Former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming has been sentenced to home detention, with his lawyer saying his client had a pornography addiction that “simply overwhelmed him”.
A report into McSkimming’s offending said he showed an “entitled attitude” and centred the impact of the offending on himself and his loved ones, rather than the victims of child sex offending. He also admitted to starting to seek objectionable material 10 years ago, despite the charges only dating back five years.
The 52-year-old earlier pleaded guilty to three representative charges of possessing objectionable material after an investigation revealed he had used his work devices to search for bestiality and child sex abuse images.
The case ignited a national scandal last month when heavy court suppressions were lifted, allowing it to be reported for the first time that police had ignored complaints about McSkimming from a former affair partner, instead laying criminal charges against her before properly investigating her claims.
The disgraced ex-cop appeared in the Wellington District Court this afternoon for sentencing before Judge Tim Black.
He arrived at court in a business shirt and blazer and sat in the dock with his arms crossed and head cocked as he listened to the lawyers make submissions on his sentence.
A lawyer for the prosecution said McSkimming’s offending involved a “profound breach of trust” and that while McSkimming was searching for child abuse imagery, other police officers were busy “picking up the pieces” of child sexual abuse around the country.
Any discount for prior good character and remorse should be weighed against comment from the pre-sentence report, the prosecutor said.
That report found McSkimming had an “entitled attitude”, noting he confessed he had started seeking objectionable material in 2015.
While he expressed remorse, the report writer said he centred the impact on himself and those close to him, and did not express contrition regarding the level of harm caused to the children in images. He also did not acknowledge how his offending contributed towards the “significant ongoing global industry” of child sexual abuse.
Defence lawyer Letizea Ord said most of the images viewed by McSkimming were thumbnails and that he clicked on about 160 of them. She said it was relevant that he did not download or distribute any of the images.
McSkimming “had an addiction to pornography which simply overwhelmed him”, she said.
“He has suffered a very, very significant fall from grace in respect of these matters. He has lost his career. He has lost his financial security for the future. He is likely to be ostracised from the workforce. He has experienced relentless press exposure and public approbation,” Ord said, adding this had a “significant psychological impact” on him.
She disagreed he had minimised his offending, and said he was “extremely remorseful” and “deeply ashamed”, and fully understood how he had contributed to a “culture of exploitation and dehumanisation”.
Judge Black noted the majority of the images viewed were of bestiality involving adults, but a “significant minority” was of child sexual abuse.
“The viewing of such material contributes to the ongoing, what would appear to be almost insatiable, demand for such material, which in turn creates untold real harm and real misery to thousands and thousands of children every year,” he said.
Judge Black adopted a starting point for sentencing of three years in prison. He allowed a 25% discount for the guilty plea.
He also allowed a 15% reduction for McSkimming’s “significant rehabilitative efforts”, which included engagement with a psychologist and 25 sessions with a faith-based therapist. Judge Black said McSkimming, along with his wife, had enacted practical steps at home that made it “impossible” for him to access objectionable material.
The judge also gave 10% in discounts for remorse and previous good character, and also noted if he were to send McSkimming to prison he would be a “prime target” for violence.
With discounts, the sentence came to 18 months in prison, which he commuted to home detention for nine months, with six months of post-release conditions.
He declined to add McSkimming to the child sex offenders register.
A police spokesperson said Police Commissioner Richard Chambers would not be commenting on McSkimming’s sentencing.
McSkimming’s offending was only discovered when police searched his devices amid an investigation into complaints by a former affair partner, Ms Z, who claimed he was a sexual predator.
The revelations he had carried out thousands of Google searches over multiple years looking for sexual abuse imagery, as well as news some of New Zealand’s most powerful police officers tried to shut down an investigation into his behaviour, sent shock waves around the country.
The summary of facts detailed an extensive list of Google searches on McSkimming’s devices, including references to underage girls, incest, animals and words such as “slave”, “abuse” and “extreme”. Many of the searches were for AI-generated images or illustrations.
The summary said he contacted a colleague after the searches were found, telling them he needed different types of pornography to make himself “feel anything” and it “just kept escalating”.
McSkimming’s first recorded search took place on July 1, 2020, which was as far back as the police’s retrievable records could go. About a third of the Google searches he made on his work phone were adult or pornographic content searches.
A total of 2945 images McSkimming accessed were assessed by police as objectionable material and he is estimated to have opened or enlarged about 160 of them.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 12 years.