A woman’s discovery on her husband’s laptop has ultimately led to him being registered as a child sex offender.
Kane Colin Brady, 52, was arrested in September, 2018, after his wife reported finding concerning material on his laptop.
Police seized the device, which was found to contain 135 objectionable images or film clips depicting child sexual exploitation and bestiality.
Brady subsequently pleaded guilty to two representative charges of being in possession of objectionable publications. He was sentenced this week in Gisborne District Court to eight months’ imprisonment — time he had already served while on remand in custody. He will be subject to release conditions.
The prison term meant he was automatically registered as a child sex offender. However, the Crown did not seek it and reports prepared for the court showed Brady did not pose a risk to require it.
Judge Warren Cathcart said the sentence could be appropriately converted to home detention, which would mean Brady could avoid the registration. The judge offered to remand Brady further in custody so he could try to find another suitable address. However, after discussing it with his lawyer, Brady chose to be sentenced to imprisonment.
He had already served enough time in custody to cover a prison term and didn’t want to remain there longer when he might not necessarily find another address.
The charges were based on an assessed sample of the overall images, of which 11 photographs and four video clips were identified as child sexual exploitation and five photos and eight video clips were of bestiality.
The child exploitation clips had a total run time of eight minutes, 32 seconds; the bestiality clips, 42 minutes, 13 seconds.
The exact age range of the children involved was unknown but the images in the sample clearly depicted prepubescent girls and adults involved in sexual activity with children.
The material had been viewed since February, 2016. Brady admitted the laptop was his and that he would view and download bestiality. He said he remembered seeing some child porn images but thought he had deleted them by sending them to the recycle bin.
He admitted looking at teenage porn sites and thought some of the girls looked younger but as they were on those sites, they must have been the appropriate age. He admitted registering on websites to look at bestiality but said other images also came up while he was searching.
He denied knowledge of the 135 objectionable images police listed as being on his computer.
Determining sentence, Judge Cathcart noted there were no guideline cases in New Zealand for this type of offending but the Court of Appeal had previously acknowledged UK guidelines for sentencing could be of assistance to courts here.
Under those guidelines, offending is categorised into three groups. The first includes possession of images that involve penetrative sexual activity or sex with an animal, the second includes non-penetrative sexual activity and the third, possession of other indecent images not falling into the first two categories.
Of the sample publications in Brady’s case, nine were category one; four category 2; and two, category 3.
Child sexual abuse and the exploitation of children was a mandatory aggravating feature.
Further aggravating Brady’s offending was a suggestion he had tried to retrieve the laptop from his wife after she had found it and reported him, Judge Cathcart said.
The judge set a starting point of 16 months imprisonment, in line with that submitted by the Crown and Brady’s counsel.
It also covered an admitted breach of bail.
Brady received a full 25 percent discount for his guilty pleas, three months discount for contributory background factors including his use of methamphetamine at the time, and a month’s discount for remorse.
It was obvious Brady was “deeply ashamed” of the offending, Judge Cathcart said.