A former Canterbury principal who looked at but did not download child pornography has been found guilty of possessing objectionable material in a landmark case expected to have wide ramifications.
David Alan Young, 50, was principal at North Loburn School during 2001 when he was caught accessing pornography on a school computer.
Young, believed to be overseas, pleaded not guilty to 10 charges of possessing an objectionable publication.
In what is regarded as an important test case, Young's lawyer Nigel Hampton, QC, argued his client should not be convicted because he only looked at the images and had not downloaded them.
Mr Hampton said viewing the images did not constitute possession of objectionable images as required by the charges.
Some of the images suggested teachers having sex with young children.
Judge Edward Ryan ruled viewing an image from the internet in the "full knowledge of the nature of the material" did constitute possession because Young had full control of the image.
The Internal Affairs general manager of the gaming and censorship regulation group, Keith Manch, said the department was pleased with the outcome - a test case for New Zealand.
"We're pleased with the judgment because it removes what is a spurious defence."
The landmark case was likely to be referred to by jurisdictions around the globe, he said.
Judge Ryan said Young had "deliberately and with knowledge of what he would find accessed 111 image files from newsgroups". Thirty-four of those files were deemed to be objectionable.
He said an image did not have to be "consciously" saved to be in an individual's possession.
Young had acknowledged accessing similar sites for 12-18 months before the laying of charges.
Judge Ryan said this highlighted there was "nothing accidental or fortuitous about what Young did".
North Loburn School board members were first alerted to Young's activities in October 2001 by an exceptionally high phone bill because of prolonged internet access.
The computer's hard drive was passed on to Internal Affairs.
Judge Ryan said a safeguard in the ruling gave police the power to ensure people sent "unsolicited email" would not be prosecuted.
Young is due to appear in court today.
- NZPA
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