Media release

4 July 2014

Former IT student jailed for hundreds of child sex abuse images

A Porirua man has been sentenced to seven and a half months in jail for possessing and sharing objectionable images of seven young girls.

Raymond Charles Petersen, 47, was charged with distributing a file containing more than 600 images on file sharing networks of young girls in sexual poses. At least some of the children were pre-pubescent – that is under 13 years of age.

The former IT student, who’s now unemployed, was also charged with possessing a file containing more than 150 objectionable images and admitted that he had accessed objectionable material on and off for a few years.

The Department of Internal Affairs, which brought the prosecution, says Petersen demonstrated a detailed understanding of the way the file sharing network operates and was aware the images were being shared.

Censorship Compliance team leader, Jon Peacock, who initiated the investigation, says continuing damage is done to these girls through the copying and subsequent viewing of their images.

“The act of further distribution re-victimises the young girls who we were unable to identify. Possession of them encourages further production of the images and further abuse of the victims to occur.”

Sentencing Petersen in Porirua District Court today (Friday 4 July) Judge John Walker said deterrence was the most important principle in this case and home detention was inappropriate given the seriousness of the offending.

Petersen will face special conditions for six months on release from prison with restrictions on his access to the internet, access to children, and requirements to attend Wellstop – a sexual abuse treatment provider.

Notes:

We strongly encourage the use of the phrase “online child sex abuse” and not “child or kiddie pornography” because the word pornography:

• downplays child sexual abuse. Most of the public is unaware of the seriousness of this type of offending which includes images of oral, vaginal and anal sex, sometimes bondage, bestiality and sexual torture.

• indicates legitimacy and compliance on victim’s part, suggesting legality on abuser’s part. These are criminal acts and each act is a crime scene.

• conjures up images of children posing in ‘provocative’ positions, rather than capturing horrific abuse and suffering. Victims suffer physical and emotional abuse with the impact often staying with them for life.

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