Media Release 31 August 2007

Child sex abuse images bring jail

A 35 year old Porirua truck driver today received the heaviest sentence yet for possessing child sex abuse pictures since Parliament toughened censorship law penalties two and half years ago.

Bruce Albert Wigzell, aged 35, of Titahi Bay was sentenced to two years’ jail after pleading guilty to 30 representative charges of possessing pictures and movies of young girls being sexually abused. He was given leave to apply for home detention but will spend time in prison pending a hearing by the Parole Board. Wigzell pleaded guilty to similar charges in 2005 and was fined $4000.

Internal Affairs Deputy Secretary, Keith Manch, said Department censorship inspectors discovered more than 200,000 pictures and movies on Wigzell’s computers after a tip-off from Australian police.

“Wigzell was undergoing counselling for his earlier offending when he started accessing objectionable material on the internet again,” Keith Manch said. “Today’s sentence is a further warning to those involved in such offending that the courts are coming down harder and the judge, Bruce Davidson, noted that in the future the courts may impose even heavier penalties.”

Two earlier cases, involving distribution as well as possession of objectionable images, brought jail terms of three and a half years and three.

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