Jail time for intimate student photos

FALL FROM GRACE: Former teacher aide Michael Rowley was sent to jail for taking photos of students changing clothes in school. PHOTO/MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM

A Northland teacher aide who took photos of students in various stages of nudity while changing clothes has been handed a short prison sentence.

Michael Rowley, 37, earlier pleaded guilty to 12 charges of making an intimate recording and a further 17 of possessing objectionable material.

The charges carry maximum sentences of three and five years, respectively.

He appeared for sentencing in the Whangarei District Court yesterday. A court order prevents this newspaper from naming the school and other details. Judge Keith de Ridder said Rowley mentored children, supervised them during breaks, helped organise sporting activities and provided technical assistance with computers.

The charges involved several children and came to light after one of the students complained that Rowley removed him from his class, took him to a hall and instructed him to change clothes.

Rowley then took photos of the boy while he obeyed his instruction, Judge de Ridder said.

Police were notified and officers seized 14 electronic devices including a computer and recovered 11 video recordings of young boys in various poses.

The judge said 17 still images of young boys and girls involved in various sexual activities with, among others, adults were also recovered.

Defence lawyer Baden Meyer said there was a degree of lack of insight into the offending, despite Rowley's age, and he urged the court to take into account his client's early guilty plea, lack of previous convictions and the fact that no commercial activity was involved.

Mr Meyer said Rowley had taken proactive steps to attend at least three counselling sessions and said rehabilitative measures were best met outside prison while advocating for a non-custodial sentence.

Judge de Ridder said while Rowley expressed regret and pleaded guilty, he appeared to have little appreciation of the gravity of his offending. As a single man with limited social life, the judge said Rowley was assessed as at a high risk of re-offending.

He sentenced Rowley to one year and seven months in prison on the charges of possessing objectionable material and a concurrent term of 12 months on the other charges.