Jail for nude child pictures

The father of a Whangarei man sentenced to two years' in jail for possessing more than 40,000 objectionable images of children requested his son undergo compulsory counselling because he believed he posed a risk to young people.
David Glen Tavernor, 44, appeared for sentencing in Whangarei District Court yesterday  on 18 charges of possessing objectionable material - images of children between five and 15 years of age in various stages of nudity.
Judge Simon Maude said Tavernor's father, in a letter to court, noted his son's lack of remorse and requested  counselling be ordered for him.
Tavernor was on bail on a raft of charges involving possessing objectionable material, which were later dismissed, when police raided his room on May 22, 2008 in search for drugs. His bail conditions included  he not have access to a computer.
Police recovered a working computer from Tavernor's  room with the screen hidden under bed covers. Hundreds of DVDs were  in his room and a  search of the disks, computer and thumb drives found more than 40,000 objectionable images, including pictures of girls as young as 8 years partly naked or naked in explicit poses.
Crown prosecutor Alice Hyndman  said the court had earlier indicated a prison term of two years .
Judge Simon Maude  said when questioned by a Probation officer why he committed the offence, Tavernor said he found it hard to understand that someone could come to his house and tell him what  not to do.
Tavernor believed he did not offend anyone with the images which he thought were acceptable, he said.
 
The risk of him re-offending was high, according to the pre-sentence report.
 
As part of his sentence, he has  been ordered not to associate with people under 16 or  or use any  electronic equipment capable of accessing the internet.