Source: Radio New Zealand
Christchurch District Court. RNZ / Nate McKinnon
A Canadian national caught with child abuse images and videos has been sentenced to 10 months’ home detention before being deported.
Joshua Kuyten, 33, previously pleaded guilty to one representative charge of possessing objectionable material.
He appeared for sentencing before Judge Jane McMeeken in the Christchurch District Court on Friday afternoon.
The judge said his then-partner found a deleted folder containing a video of child exploitation material on his laptop and questioned him about it last March.
The next day, he moved a hidden folder into his laptop’s recycling bin.
She called the police after discovering the folder, restoring it and seeing what it involved.
Kuyten was arrested and his devices were seized with a search uncovering 2680 images and 357 videos that were identified as objectionable.
Close to 600 of them involved children aged 13 and under.
Kuyten previously admitted to buying and saving two separate packages of child exploitation material about a year prior, but denied looking at every video or image.
“Your downloading of this abhorrent material encourages its production and fuels its demand,” she said.
This type of offending must always be condemned as an evil that victimised some of most vulnerable among us, she said.
In her sentencing remarks, she noted that he was a first time offender who had taken steps to rehabilitate himself, including completing at least 10 sessions with a clinical psychologist and having a personalised safety plan aimed at preventing reoffending.
A psychologist assessment found his risk of reoffending was low and he had expressed high levels of regret, remorse and disgust over his offending, she said.
The judge started with a sentence of three years and two months in prison, before taking off two months for prior good character, eight months for his early guilty plea, four months for his potential for rehabilitation and four months for his ongoing health issues.
Judge McMeeken said she was satisfied that home detention was appropriate given his potential for rehabilitation and the steps he had already taken.
He was sentenced to 10 months’ home detention with conditions.
They included that he must undertake and complete a treatment programme, not have contact with under 16 year olds unless supervised by an informed, approved adult, and not use any device capable of accessing the internet without prior approval or supervision.
Kuyten will be deported after serving his sentence.
She also ordered that the devices and child abuse material were destroyed.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
