Man had child sex abuse images featuring children as young as 21 months

A Napier man has been sentenced after being caught with child sex abuse images featuring children as young as 21 months of age.

The man in his 20s, who was granted permanent name suppression, was sentenced to two years' intensive supervision and six months' community detention at the Napier District Court yesterday.

The sentencing comes after he pleaded guilty to four respective charges related to the distribution and possession of online child sexual abuse material.  

The Department of Internal Affairs launched an investigation into the man after it received three referrals from the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. The referrals included an email address attributed to the man through the investigation.

During a search of his home, investigators found two devices which contained video and image files depicting child sex exploitation and abuse.

Some children featured in the material were as young as 21 months.

Tim Houston, manager of the DIA's Digital Child Exploitation Team, said the images "capture a real crime scene".

"Child sexual exploitation material depicts real children who have been sexually abused and exploited for these files to be created.”

Alongside his supervision and community detention sentence, the man's iPhone, used in the offending, was ordered to be forfeited.

All objectionable material was destroyed.