Child-porn addict caught with 11,000 pictures and videos glad he got caught

Martin Pickering was sentenced in the Levin District Court this afternoon to four years in jail. Photo/Jeremy Wilkinson

A child-porn addict who downloaded more than 11,000 images of child abuse was grateful he was caught so that he could finally get help.

Martin Pickering sat in silence while he was sentenced to four years jail on 11 charges of possessing objectionable material and three of distributing it.

He'd spent two years trawling the internet for pornographic images and videos involving babies, all the way up to adolescents.

At Pickering's sentencing today at the Levin District Court, Judge Lance Rowe said the defendant had used a range of websites and accounts to collect the images and even shared links to child porn on Twitter and Facebook.

"Your collection was enormous," Judge Rowe said.

"The multiple ways in which you stored information demonstrates that this was a collection amassed over time."

Rowe said the thousands of images varied in their levels of abuse, but strayed into the extreme end involving rape, restraints and bestiality, which he factored into his sentencing.

"The images you possessed involved children as young as babies, right through to adolescents of about 14 years of age.

"This is not a victimless crime, these are real children who have been subjected to real abuse."

The court heard how Pickering had also recorded a pornographic live stream, which he then shared with other people on the internet.

Rowe said this was a key factor in his sentencing as it perpetuated the cycle of abuse that the children in this kind of imagery are subject to.

"You were prepared to continue the abuse by distributing it.

"They suffered not just by being abused but by having the material circulated indefinitely."

Rowe outlined how Pickering had been sexually abused as a child and suffered from PTSD from his time in the army, which he took into account when sentencing him.

He also noted that Pickering had cooperated with the Department of Internal Affairs when they raided his home, assisting them in finding one of his hard-drives they might not otherwise have found.

"Your lawyer also says that you are genuinely remorseful, and described it as an addiction and that you are thankful that the DIA came to your home and seized your computers," Rowe said.

"You feel extreme shame for what you did."

Since his arrest in 2019, Pickering had engaged with counselling service Manline to address his issues and get help.

The images and his devices were ordered to be destroyed.