Three men sentenced this week for child sexual abuse charges
04.50pm 15 August 2025
Three separate Customs investigations into the possession and trading or sharing of child sexual abuse files across the virtual and physical border have concluded this week, with imprisonment sentences meted out to two offenders and one offender receiving home detention.
Case one – community detention
On Wednesday 13 August 2025, a 30-year-old Auckland man was sentenced to four months’ community detention and one year’s supervision in the Manukau District Court.
Customs arrested him at Auckland International Airport in February 2024 for importing objectionable publications. On his return from overseas, Customs found 32 videos and images of the sexual exploitation and abuse of a child on his phone, with a further 872 located during forensic analysis.
Case two – two years and eight months’ imprisonment
On Thursday 14 August 2025, a 35-year-old Auckland man was sentenced to two years and eight months’ imprisonment in the Manukau District Court on importation, possession and distribution charges following a Customs investigation. He has been placed on the child sex offender register.
This case is believed to involve the largest physical importation of child sexual abuse material through Auckland International Airport in the last decade.
Returning from overseas on 25 June 2024, the man was questioned and searched by Customs officers who identified 3,180 objectionable publications, of which 3,030 were child sexual abuse files, on his phone. He was arrested at the airport.
During a subsequent search of his former Wellington home, Customs investigators located a further 2,395 objectionable publications on his laptop, of which 2,310 depicted the sexual exploitation of children. He was also found to have distributed at least 1,757 objectionable publications between 2022 and 2024 through messaging and social media apps.
In total, he possessed over 150 hours of child abuse footage, including material in the most serious category, along with images of bestiality and other dehumanising content.
Case three – two years and five months' imprisonment
On Friday 15 August 2025, a 46-year-old Auckland man was sentenced to two years and five months imprisonment in the Auckland District Court for the importation and possession of objectionable material relating to child sexual abuse. He has been placed on the child sex offender register.
In September 2023, Police and Customs identified a New Zealand-based individual distributing objectionable publications, using peer-to-peer file-sharing software.
Following an investigation, Customs carried out a search warrant at his home on 6 June 2024, seizing six electronic devices. On-site forensic examination located objectionable material on four of the devices and the man was arrested on-site.
Further forensic analysis uncovered 11,775 objectionable files including extreme child sexual abuse involving bestiality, pre-pubescent children and toddlers. One device contained over 240 hours of video of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Chief Customs Officer, Child Exploitation Operations Team, Simon Peterson says in all three cases the offenders imported and possessed a large volume of objectionable material, sorted and unsorted, with the intention or ability to share it with other like-minded people.
“Our officers remain vigilant to the threat that people like these offenders pose to communities – not just in New Zealand but across the globe. Customs was able to intercept, arrest and interrupt the cycle of re-victimisation being perpetuated by the possession and sharing images of children being abused.”
“Unfortunately, the use of global file-sharing networks makes it easier to access and share objectionable material, which exists solely to celebrate deeply harmful acts against children.
“Importing and possessing child sexual abuse material is never passive or harmless. It fuels a dark industry, which carries devastating lifelong consequences for the victims whose abuse is reproduced and consumed by offenders all over the world," Mr Peterson adds.
If you have concerns or suspicions about someone who may be trading in or producing child sexual abuse images or videos, contact Customs confidentially on 0800 WE PROTECT (0800 937 768) or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
If you are, or know of, someone who is at risk or being abused, contact the Police immediately.