Christchurch paedophile Matthew Kelly released from prison on parole

WARNING: Graphic content

A paedophile jailed after paying a woman $300 to send him a video of herself sexually abusing an infant will be released from prison despite a psychological report assessing his risk of sexual reoffending as “above average”.

Matthew Kelly was jailed for 5 years in 2016 after police were alerted to his Facebook messages and raided his Christchurch home where they seized his computers and cellphones.

Convicted sex offender Matthew Kelly has been granted an early release form prison. Photo / Facebook.

On those devices, they found images he’d sent to a woman of young children and infants with descriptions of the sexual acts he wanted to perform on them.

In August 2014 he contacted a 24-year-old Auckland woman and asked her to send him photos of naked children. He also encouraged her to make a video of her performing a sex act on a one-year-old child and then paid her $300 when she did.

Kelly was also found with images of naked young girls in sexual poses, and other photos and videos, where children were involved in sexual acts with adults. There was also a video of a woman performing a sex act on a Dalmatian dog.

In February 2014, he contacted two other women online and offered money to have time alone with their young daughters, both aged under 5. Kelly described in detail the sex acts he wanted to perform.

He was found with about 70 images he had taken of himself wearing only a nappy, as well as eight images of animals involved in sexual acts with children and adults.

Kelly earlier pleaded guilty to 16 charges, including one of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, five of making an objectionable publication, and 10 of possession of an objectionable publication.

Matthew Kelly has been released from prison four-and-a-half-years early. Photo / Facebook.

In January 2019, while still in prison, Kelly was sentenced to a further seven-and-a-half-years after being found guilty of rape, attempted sexual violation and indecent assault involving two young victims aged 13 and 14.

The elder of those two victims he raped in a park beside a church.

The woman who was raped told the court she cut herself by writing the word “whore” on her thigh due to the trauma of the incident.

Kelly’s total jail time across the two sets of charges was 12-and-a-half years, meaning without parole he would not be released until 2028. He first became eligible for parole in 2018 and has been denied early release from prison four times since then.

He was seen again by the board in April this year where the panel heard he had completed the rehabilitation programmes required of him, had accommodation on the outside and had had many sessions with a psychologist.

However, a psychological report noted his risk of sexual reoffending remained “above average” although there had been a reduction in this score since the last assessment.

Kelly said he now knew his triggers and had worked hard to address his aggression and emotional and sexual regulation but acknowledged he would need to continue to work on these upon release.

“Mr Kelly was upfront and acknowledged that he has at times demonstrated offence paralleling behaviour in his defiance of authority, wanting his own way and demonstrating control,” the board said in its decision, released to NZME.

“He believes he has done enough work to address these matters satisfactorily on release.

“Mr Kelly was able to talk to his high-risk situations and understands he still has a long time to go on his sentence and will be subject to recall should his reintegration not work out satisfactorily.”

The board said the work Kelly had done, the supportive environment he would be released into and the way he spoke to the board satisfied the panel he was no longer an undue risk to the community.

However, Kelly is still subject to a long list of conditions he must abide by upon release.

Those conditions include electronic monitoring, abiding by a 10pm to 6am curfew, not possessing any device capable of accessing the internet without supervision and not loitering near any school, swimming pool, recreational facility or church.

Kelly must also attend rehabilitative programs and have ongoing psychological assessments. He is also forbidden from having any contact with his victims or anyone under the age of sixteen.

He can be recalled to prison if he breaches any of those conditions.

* Additional reporting by Kurt Bayer.

Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.