Man sentenced after smuggling child objectionable material, says Customs

A man who smuggled hundreds of movie and still images showing children as young as two-years-old being sexually abused was sentenced this week to one year and 11 months imprisonment after a New Zealand Customs Service investigation.

The material was brought in on discs concealed within the covers of legitimate movie titles as well as downloaded from overseas websites.

The man, 43-year-old New Zealand resident Andrew Floyd Williams, pleaded guilty to 30 charges of knowingly importing objectionable publications into New Zealand. He received a 25 percent reduction of his sentence for an early guilty plea.

The images of children (aged between 2 and 13 years old) depicted a wide range of child sexual abuse including pictures of children, naked children posing, and sexual activity between adults and children.

Williams was stopped at Auckland International Airport in 2009 after returning from a holiday in Thailand. Customs officers located 14 discs depicting the sexual abuse of children hidden in movie covers.

Customs investigators then executed a search warrant at Williams’ home address in Hamilton during which computer equipment was seized. Forensic analysis of the equipment revealed in excess of 800 images and movie files containing child abuse messages.

The majority of the images had been downloaded from the internet from websites based outside of New Zealand.

The investigation involved close liaison with New Zealand Police and the Department of Internal Affairs.

Customs Acting Comptroller, John Secker said Customs will continue to investigate these types of people and their behaviour.

“Our communities need to be educated that the online movement and trading of child sexual abuse material is regularly happening throughout all corners of our society. The worrying aspect of this activity is that it is not a victimless crime, it is increasing in volume, numbers of offenders, and seriousness of content”

“Every photograph captures an actual situation where a child has been abused”, he said.

Customs, New Zealand Police, and the Department of Internal Affairs work in a task force capacity to investigate instances of the importation, exportation, possession, and trading of online child sexual abuse material with the ultimate goal of identifying and protecting children from contact offending.

Please note: child sexual abuse images, not ‘child pornography’
Use of the phrase ‘child pornography’ actually benefits child sex offenders:
• It indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser
• It conjures up images of children posing in ‘provocative’ positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse
Every photograph captures an actual situation where a child has been abused. This is not pornography.

ends

© Scoop Media