Soldier fined for possession of child porn

A soldier based at Linton army camp has been fined more than $7000 for possessing child pornography images described as among the worst an investigator has seen.

Daniel Jon Stephen Murray, a 21-year-old gunner in the artillery unit, appeared before Judge Gregory Ross in Palmerston North District Court yesterday for sentencing on 10 charges of possessing objectionable material.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to the charges.

"Society's values and standards change from time to time, but the abuse of children is widely and deeply condemned," Judge Ross said.

"You know it is wrong. There are victims of this type of offending -- people are taken advantage of and they are children."

Defence counsel Duncan Harvey had sought a discharge without conviction for Murray because the offending was not at the worst end of the scale, that Murray was not distributing the material, and that a conviction would finish his army career.

Judge Ross disagreed and convicted Murray on all 10 charges, fining him a total of $7800.

Prosecutor Paul Murray (no relation) said some of the images were found on Murray's laptop computer by another person who then contacted the military police.

The Department of Internal Affairs was brought in and 106 images were discovered.

"Some of them were described by department inspector John Peacock as among the worst he's seen.

"Of the 106 images, 61 were found to be objectionable, in that they featured children as young as six engaged in sexual acts or posed in a sexualised manner," Mr Murray said.

"When spoken to, he said he knew about them and had seen them. But he could not provide an explanation as to why he had downloaded them ...

"The method of storing the images required a deliberate action on the defendant's behalf. It could not have been (done) as a result of a simple search."

Mr Murray told Judge Ross there was a public interest in deterrent sentences for this type of offending. He also sought forfeiture of the computer and destruction of the images.

Mr Harvey took issue with the level of obscenity of the images, saying they were not the worst he had come across, and that Murray's actions mitigated the offence.

"By his very actions, he made sure that he could not distribute the images and that no one could access the images from another computer," he said.

"Normally, people are discovered when they are distributing this kind of material. The community has a real interest in this type of offending, and the real focus of Internal Affairs is preventing the spread of such material."

Judge Ross accepted that Murray was well-spoken of in his Army unit, had not been "a peddler in pornography", and was "an end-user" of such material, but said the sentence he passed was a deterrent and a denunciation of child pornography.

Under the current law -- the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act 1993 -- possession of images of child abuse is a fine-only matter, according to Vince Cholewa of Internal Affairs.

"The current law pre-dates the free and open access to the internet. But there is an amendment before Parliament now that would increase the penalty for possession to up to two years' prison and for distribution to up to 10 years' prison," he said.

"(The department) has stopped labelling it child pornography, and we now use the phrase 'images of child sexual abuse'. These pictures and movies will be on the net forever, and that has a huge impact on the victims. Users of this material contribute to the trade in such images and also spread the false idea that sex with children is acceptable. It is not."

A spokesman for the Army said Murray's future in the Army was under review.

"His retention in the New Zealand Defence Force has been under review since he pleaded guilty to these charges," Captain Brent Smith said.

"I think the fact that he was reported by fellow soldiers accurately reflects the Army's attitude to this behaviour. As soon as the review is complete, a decision will be made."

- NZPA