The material listed involved children between the ages of 1 and 12 years old.
When questioned by police, Te Iri-Kearns admitted he had a “fetish with child porn”.
‘Unusually immature for his age’
When Te Iri-Kearns appeared in the Hamilton District Court earlier this week for sentencing his lawyer asked for home detention.
However, Judge Tini Clark was concerned that Jordan Te Iri-Kearns had been assessed as someone who would go on to reoffend.
“Not just in terms of watching something but actually doing something,” she told Te Iri-Kearns’ counsel, Scott McKenna, before reaching her decision.
McKenna said he didn’t disagree, but the “absolute priority” should be to focus on doing something to “stop the conduct”.
He said the offending wasn’t at a level that required a prison sentence and said his client presented as someone who was “unusually immature for his age”.
In arguing for home detention, McKenna acknowledged there had been multiple police callouts to the property but assured the judge that it would be suitable.
If the judge felt it wasn’t, he asked that she adjourn proceedings so another house, possibly an apartment by himself, could be sought.
But Judge Clark said the reality was that the property was the only option at this stage.
‘It’s not just about the number of videos’
The judge accepted he was genuinely remorseful and had been transparent with police about his behaviour.
She also questioned the full discount for a guilty plea, given he was caught “red-handed” with the offending material.
In deciding whether to send him to prison or allow home detention, Judge Clark said the offending wasn’t simply about the numbers or amount of videos and images.
“But the need to look more carefully at the nature of the publications,” she said.
“There’s a distinction between the possession of videos and the possession of still images.
“Simply looking at the volume ... will not necessarily accurately confirm an offender’s culpability.”
Te Iri-Kearns had been “extremely forthcoming” with a report writer, admitting that he had “a porn addiction and has a high sex drive”.
She accepted that while he had only distributed videos three times, they were to three different people, yet the purpose of the exchange was so that he could receive more videos.
McKenna had asked the judge to take a starting point of three years and six months’ jail, while police had suggested five and a half years.
Judge Clark took four years and three months and agreed to allow a 25% discount for his guilty plea, 5% for remorse, and a 20% for his background factors.
That left 25 and a half months for which Te Iri-Kearns was jailed.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.
