Man in 'catatonic state' since child abuse images found

A student, found with child abuse images on his computer, has been in an almost mute, catatonic state ever since. His condition has been put down to the profound shame he feels at having been found viewing the files. Photo / Thinkstock

A 23-year-old student has been in an almost mute, catatonic state since he was found with child abuse images on his computer at home.

His condition has been put down to the profound shame he feels at having been found viewing the files downloaded from a site in Luxembourg, Christchurch Court News reported.

Defence counsel Keith Owen said the man had now "withdrawn into himself" and had hardly spoken for months. He was only just starting to open up again, to his mother.

At the sentencing in the Christchurch District Court, Judge Colin Doherty agreed to suppress the man's name because of his mental state and fears that he could harm himself.

Mr Owen said it was insidious offending but the man had now accepted that he was wrong to access the material and would not do it again. He would accept any help he was offered. There was no suggestion he had been sharing files.

Crown prosecutor Marcus Zintl said the man's recent behaviour could be put down to being saturated by a profound sense of shame over the charges.

Judge Doherty said the man was found following a tip off from the European police who were investigating a Luxembourg website which hosted explicit sexual child exploitation.

He was found with 1000 cartoon images on his computer, 3300 still images, and 35 movie files. They showed sexual posing, oral sex, masturbation, penetrative sex, and bestiality, involving children from infancy to late teens.

People had been concerned enough about him to call for a psychiatric report, which was provided to the judge. The report writers had been hampered by his uncommunicative attitude, which appeared to have been caused by a depressive demeanour.

"You seem to have gone into some nearly catatonic or mute state following your apprehension and disclosure. The condition makes it hard for you to face up to your current predicament," said the judge.

The man was found to have a major depressive disorder at the time of the offending and it had been exacerbated since.

"People are concerned about your future welfare, including your risk of self-harm. Your state of health means you are unable to face up to this offending other than to have pleaded guilty.

"Your parents are completely at a loss to understand your behaviour. They too are going through their own grief and stress at all of this.

"You ought not to make any mistake: This is activity which has real victims and sometime I hope you will come to realise that. This is the victimisation of innocent young people who deserve to be protected and not exploited by people like you who download and view this material for their own gratification.

"When one looks at a representative sample of the images, I think the general public would be sickened by the material your computer held," said Judge Doherty.

He imposed a term of 12 months' home detention with conditions that the man not associate directly or indirectly with any children under 16, obtain the permission of his probation officer for any work or study arrangements, and not have access to the internet. He will also have to undergo treatment for sex offending.

The judge said there were exceptional circumstances where he could suppress the man's name.

- NZPA