Ex-councillor guilty on child porn charges

A former district councillor has been found guilty of possessing child porn.

Chris Campbell of Rotorua was found guilty of three counts of possession of objectionable publications. Judge Chris McGuire convicted and fined him $1000 and ordered him to pay court costs of $130 on each.

The ruling ended a drawn-out four-part defended hearing for the 36-year-old former radio announcer.

Campbell sat in the public gallery, supported by two men and a woman, while Judge McGuire delivered his decision. As the judge spoke, Campbell leaned forward with his arms folded and shook his head.

He told the Rotorua Daily Post afterwards he intended to appeal the convictions and an earlier ruling by the judge that the police search warrant for his home was legal.

During the hearing the court heard Campbell looked at pornography nightly and kept a photo album of Polaroid snaps he had taken of naked women. He maintained it was wrong to say his interest extended to child pornography.

He spent more than $100,000 fighting allegations he had 73 images of child pornography stored on a hard drive on his personal computer, three printed images of child pornography and three images of child pornography on a floppy disk.

In October 2003, Campbell told police he had no knowledge of the images or how they came to be on his computer. He said the computer had not been working properly for two-and-a-half years and when it was last working flatmates and his former wife had access to it.

His ex-wife told the court she discovered child pornography images on the computer after becoming concerned about the time her husband spent looking at pornography.

Campbell claimed he was set up but in his decision, Judge McGuire said "the totality of the evidence" did not support the proposition he was framed. The judge said he was satisfied the prosecution witnesses were truthful.

Campbell was charged in July 2004 following a search of his home in June 2003. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and the first part of his defended hearing was in February last year. Three further hearings were held, with the evidence concluding this month when the judge reserved his decision.

Rotorua Detective Sergeant Garry Hawkins, who worked on the case, said outside the court that police were thrilled with the convictions. He said the judge's decision proved all the witnesses who gave evidence were honest.

- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)