L Walker 
A Southland man who had more than 120 child exploitation videos on his laptop has been sentenced to four and a half years in jail.
The 31 year old was convicted on 16 charges relating to possession and distribution of child exploitation and was sentenced by Judge John Brandts-Giesen in the Invercargill District Court on Friday.
The charges related to possessing and distributing objectionable videos and images containing children.
Judge Brandts-Giesen lifted the order for interim name suppression
However, defence lawyer Hugo Young indicated the man would appeal that decision and his name remained suppressed.
The man would be listed on the children sex offenders register.
Judge Brandts-Giesen said child pornography was an evil.
“Your downloading added to that evil,” the judge said.
Even if the mind of the watcher was already warped, watching only further entrenched that, he said.
“It can only be produced by abusing children,” he said.
The convicted man did not produce any of the material, but Judge Brandts-Giesen likened the dynamic to thieves and receivers.
He said if people stopped watching such material, the demand would dry up.
Young said the man would do it tough in prison.
“He’s been told he will be targeted,” Young said.
He said the man had suicidal thoughts and had been depressed for quite sometime.
Young said while in custody he had been moved to a protection unit and was receiving threats.
The man’s pornography operation was un-sophisticated, as some people went to quite some length to hide that type of material, Young said.
The laptop was not password protected and he did not operate on the dark web, Young said.
Crown prosecutor Sarah McKenzie said the man’s continued denial could be taken as a lack of remorse.
On the issue of name suppression, McKenzie said this was the exact type of offending which needed deterrence.
Young said continued denial is common in these types of matters.
The judge handed out a 10 per cent sentence discount for the man’s mental health and lack of relevant prior convictions.
A photo request by the media was denied.
