KEY POINTS:
A journalist who began an investigation into child pornography became "embroiled" in it instead, his lawyer told a judge yesterday.
John Dean said his client - who has permanent name suppression - had set out as a "white knight" trying to investigate a paedophile ring.
But his prurient interest in the subject overrode his "journalistic ambition".
Judge Bruce Davidson sentenced the man in the Wellington District Court yesterday on eight charges of importing objectionable material via the internet and 33 charges of possessing objectionable material.
The 59-year-old defendant was one of nearly 50 New Zealand men caught in an international sting on child pornography in February last year.
Seven computers were seized when police executed a search warrant at the man's house and office after it was found his credit card had been used to pay for access to objectionable material.
Judge Davidson said the images found on the man's computers were close to the "most serious" of their kind, depicting girls as young as 3.
The importation of the images had begun in May 2003.
Judge Davidson acknowledged the defendant had initially begun exploring the internet to establish whether the material was widely available.
However, his motives then became "very mixed", comprising his own prurient interest and his journalistic pursuits.
The images were of "degrading acts on young children" .
Furthermore, "those who create these images do so for profit, and you in your own small way have contributed to the ongoing financial success of their operation".
Judge Davidson convicted the man, fined him $5300 and ordered him to pay costs of $500.
The defendant's name was suppressed as he is assisting police in an international investigation.
An order was made for six of the seven computers to be destroyed.
- NZPA
