Businessman fined for child porn

By KELLY BLANCHARD in Rotorua
Rotorua businessman Geoffrey Craven has been fined $3500 for importing child pornography.

Mr Craven is a prominent insurance broker in Rotorua and partner in the insurance broking firm Sweeney Craven and Associates.

The father and husband has resigned from his position.

His name was kept under wraps when he pleaded guilty in the Rotorua District Court in April.

Name suppression was lifted by Judge James Rota yesterday.

Mr Craven covered his head with his jacket and was surrounded by two supporters to shield his face when he left the court.

Mr Craven had been sentenced after pleading guilty to a representative charge of importing child pornography over a six-month period in 2003.

He was arrested following an international sting run by United States authorities on importers of child pornography.

Crown prosecutor Fraser Wood told the judge a particularly aggravating feature of Mr Craven's offending was he posted comments about the images and gave some of them a rating out of five.

Mr Craven paid for 10 images of children and young people involved in sexual activity.

His actions were picked up by United States authorities who set up an undercover operation.

The child pornography was on about 50 different websites. US authorities provided details of all the New Zealand customers caught during the operation to New Zealand Customs officials.

The men would send their credit card details and they would receive a password and account name allowing them to access the website.

The name Iserve would appear on their bank statements for any transactions made.

Thousands of customers were caught around the world.

In February the Rotorua man's home was searched and he confirmed he had looked at the site.

He told police he went to the website a couple of times out of curiosity.

Mr Craven's lawyer, Harry Edward, said his client admitted responsibility at the earliest opportunity.

Mr Wood argued this was not correct because the full extent of his offending was not discovered until his computer was forensically examined.

Although the maximum sentence was six months' jail or a $10,000 fine, Mr Edward and Mr Wood agreed a prison term was not necessary.

Judge Rota said although the court had been provided with several documents about Mr Craven outlining "who he is, what he is, where he has been and what he has achieved", this needed to be weighed against the ills surrounding child pornography.

Judge Rota said children needed to be protected by the courts. He talked about the ramifications of children and young people who got themselves in situations where the images were produced.

Judge Rota said Mr Craven had lost a lot including his business and his ability to earn an income - not to mention the trauma to his family.

Former business partner Peter Sweeney told the Daily Post outside the court that Mr Craven had resigned and his departure from the business would be made legal next week.

Mr Sweeney said the business would be re-named once the departure was official.

"It's an absolute tragedy for the guy and his family.

"For us, it has to be business as usual.

"More than anything else, we feel so sorry for him and his family."

Mr Sweeney said clients and been supportive of the business and Mr Craven.

"We thank them for that."

As well as being fined Mr Craven was ordered to pay court costs of $130 and an order was made to destroy his computer.