Wanganui District Court
A Wanganui man who exposed his children on webcams to paedophiles and performed indecent acts on them has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
The 39-year-old man, who has permanent name suppression, was found guilty in September of three charges of performing an indecent act on a child.
He had earlier admitted three further similar charges and two of possessing indecent or objectionable material. The jury found him not guilty on a fourth indecent act charge.
Judge David Cameron noted the man had admitted one of the charges the day before the trial began.
Crown prosecutor Lance Rowe read a victim impact statement from the man's former wife, who said the children had suffered bullying at school and one who had selective mutism began speaking to everyone once she stopped seeing her father.
"I feel as though [the man] didn't care about how this affected the children and the families, he just cared about how it affected him.
"He could have pleaded guilty, with so much evidence against him, but he didn't and by choosing a jury trial he just stretched it out further. He was only thinking of himself," the statement said.
Defence counsel Mark Bullock presented the court with a letter of support from the man's father and asked that the man be given credit for work done to address his issues.
"He engaged in counselling, doing five months in the WellStop programme ... he was also being counselled by [Shirley Joy] Barrow, whose letter shows she has experience in this field.
"This is not a case where the accused should get no credit at all. As far as the matters he admitted, he took steps to address the issues he has and it would be wrong to say he lacks remorse, regret or insight."
Mr Bullock said the man had support in the community so that when he was released "there is hope he will put this behind him". Ms Barrow and several of the man's supporters, who had been in the gallery at times during the trial, were in the front of the gallery for yesterday's sentencing.
Judge Cameron told the court the man's pre-sentence report showed that while he showed remorse he continued to deny the offending, saying he had "fallen victim to online chatting rooms" and was at a medium risk of reoffending.
He said no weight should be given to the man's remorse, which prompted relatives of the victims to applaud and cheer in the public gallery.
On each of the six charges of indecency the man was convicted and sentenced to two years and three months in jail, and on the two possession charges was sentenced to three months, resulting in an end point of two-years-and-six-months imprisonment.
Outside court a relative of one of the victims told the Chronicle the families were "gutted" at the sentence handed down to the man and appalled that his current wife continued to support him.
Another relative said the impact on several families had been great, with some taking sides in the case, and that there had been a great strain on all involved. Others said they had suffered from stress-related weight loss and mental breakdowns.
Detective Craig Gorringe of the Whanganui Police said a team of officers had worked tirelessly on a three-year investigation into the man's offending and the sentencing was "a pleasing conclusion to all their hard work".