A school teacher has escaped jail after admitting downloading more than 3000 female child and teenage pornographic images.
Roger Radford, 56, of Putaruru, had previously pleaded guilty to multiple charges relating to downloading objectionable material and appeared for sentencing in the Taupo District Court yesterday.
He was sentenced to 250 hours' community
work and two years' intensive supervision.
Radford, who did not pursue renewing name suppression, had admitted the images of pre-pubescent girls and females in their early teens were offensive. He used the images for his own purpose and did not distribute them.
Radford's arrest came after Austrian authorities, in 2007, were alerted to a computer server on which offensive images of children were being stored and available for sharing on the internet.
Further investigation found the images were downloaded on several computers in New Zealand, including Radford's home computer.
His computer, laptop and numerous electronic storage devices and computer disks were seized by police during a search at his home last December.
He admitted having pornographic images of children stored on a CD.
His lawyer, Mark Kirkeby, told the court Radford had acknowledged he made a bad choice, was deeply embarrassed and extremely worried about the stigma his offending would have on his name and his family.
Judge James Weir said Radford, who had no previous convictions and voluntarily resigned from his teaching position, had been fully co-operative with police during the investigation.
Judge Weir said Radford, in a letter to the court, had been deeply remorseful and knew he had let his wife, son and himself down.
The judge said Radford's use of the images assisted the demand for children to be used in such an objectionable way.
"Your use of these images involved young children so they are the victims."
