NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Thousands of objectionable sexually explicit material downloaded 'by accident' court told

By Tina Grumball
Otago Daily Times·
16 Jun, 2022 06:42 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The jury was told Pearce Buckley downloaded an application on his phone and created an account before accessing the files. Photo / 123RF, File

The jury was told Pearce Buckley downloaded an application on his phone and created an account before accessing the files. Photo / 123RF, File

A Dunedin jury heard yesterday how a man "accidentally" saved more than 11,000 objectionable videos and images.

When Pearce Patrick Buckley, 34, clicked on a hyperlink that sent him to an online folder called "Nunu", he said "[he] had no way of knowing what it was until it was in [his] account".

Inside that file, on cloud storage site Mega, were thousands of sexually explicit videos featuring children and young persons.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Buckley is facing three main charges of possessing objectionable publications, knowing they were objectionable, as well as three alternative charges of just possession that arise from four occasions over June 8, 12 and 19, 2018, when he saved the "Nunu" folder into his account.

Counsel Brendon Stephenson said the defence's case was that his client had no intention of seeking out that particular material, or of having or viewing it.

"At one point he did in fact open a video, realised within a few seconds that it was child sex abuse material, immediately [got] out of it, [got] himself off the Mega [app] and [did] not return," he said.

Buckley was searching the pornographic side of the internet during early June 2018, looking for particular videos.

On those "lawful" pornography sites, Buckley would read the comment sections to find other videos or links.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

From there, he would sometimes end up on "blog-sites" that had content of a certain genre with endless pages of hyperlinks.

"I recall it mostly because it was frustrating to me," Buckley said about his Mega experience when he clicked on the hyperlink that took him to "Nunu".

He remembered the company asking him to download their application on his phone, and create an account before he could view any files.

Crown prosecutor Richard Smith asked Buckley why his recollection of events contradicted the evidence given earlier by Mega chief compliance officer Stephen Hall.

Discover more

New Zealand|crime

Married grandmother stole $245k over 15 years while claiming to be solo mum

16 Jun 07:22 PM
New Zealand

Missing man acting 'normal' day before he 'vanished'

16 Jun 05:00 PM
New Zealand|crime

'Drunken consent': Social media influencer defends blackmail, sex violation charges

16 Jun 04:57 AM
New Zealand|crime

Victim's mother tells sex offender he is 'yesterday's trash'

16 Jun 07:00 AM

The link was available to anyone who had it and users did not have to have an account to view the material, Hall had said.

Buckley said he remembered Mega specifically because it asked him to perform tasks before viewing the material, whereas other links had not.

"I, in my heart of hearts, believe that I am not lying."

Once inside the Mega app, Buckley did not recall seeing thumbnails of videos or images as Hall and Department of Internal Affairs senior inspector John Peacock said the app would display.

"All I remember is seeing files, manila folders with names on them," he said.

He remembered clicking on the first one he saw until he got to a video, but upon seeing it was objectionable material, exited it immediately and deleted the folder.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He could not remember why there were three other times the folder was imported and deleted on his account.

However, Smith did not believe that after searching online for a specific area of pornography, Buckley randomly clicked on files through the "Nunu" folder without looking at what they were.

"It's not random because I'm on the sites looking for a particular kind of thing, and [the hyperlink] was on the site," the defendant replied.

Smith suggested Buckley was making up his story to fit with the evidence.

"No, I'm not."

When asked about why the name John Parker was used for Buckley's account, the defendant said it was the alias he had used for years in his hospitality work and Spider-Man was his favourite superhero.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I didn't think I could be Spider-Man, but I could be his brother."

The trial continues.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Watch: Inside look after fire engulfs Auckland supermarket

17 Jun 08:15 AM
New Zealand|crimeUpdated

Fit of rage: Man injures seven people in attack on partner, kids and neighbours

17 Jun 08:00 AM
New Zealand

Inside look: Damage revealed after fire engulfs Auckland supermarket

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Watch: Inside look after fire engulfs Auckland supermarket

Watch: Inside look after fire engulfs Auckland supermarket

17 Jun 08:15 AM

At its peak, 20 fire engines were on-site battling the blaze.

Fit of rage: Man injures seven people in attack on partner, kids and neighbours

Fit of rage: Man injures seven people in attack on partner, kids and neighbours

17 Jun 08:00 AM
Inside look: Damage revealed after fire engulfs Auckland supermarket

Inside look: Damage revealed after fire engulfs Auckland supermarket

Watch: Fire at Akl supermarket under control but still burning

Watch: Fire at Akl supermarket under control but still burning

17 Jun 07:18 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP