A 19-year-old university student is the third Waikato man to come before the courts in a week on child pornography internet trading charges.
The man appeared in Hamilton District Court on Friday for sentencing on 20 charges of possessing and trading offensive material.
Judge Russell Callander sentenced him to four months' periodic
detention. He was also ordered to forfeit his computer.
Judge Callander refused name suppression but the man's lawyer, Philip Morgan, said he would appeal. An interim suppression order was made pending the appeal.
The man was caught in June last year after Internal Affairs inspectors contacted him through an internet chat room. They found more than 600 pictures and 10 videos on his computer, all depicting children in sexual acts and poses.
The man was prosecuted for 20 of the most graphic pictures that included men involved in indecent acts with a 5-year-old girl, and 8 and 9-year-olds involved in acts with adults.
The descriptions were so offensive, Judge Callander stopped Crown prosecutor Deborah Davies reading them aloud.
"I do not think we need to have all the details," he said.
Ms Davies said the pictures were grossly offensive and perpetuated the exploitation of children. The man transmitted the pictures via his computer once or twice a week.
Mr Morgan told the court that revealing his client's identity would ruin a promising career and make it almost impossible for him to study at university.
But Judge Callander said the public had a "clear right" to know what happened and who was involved in such cases. The man could appeal to the High Court to challenge that ruling.
Putaruru brothers Cliff and Richard Everson were given periodic detention, supervision and were fined when they appeared in Tokoroa District Court last week on similar charges.
- NZPA
