Home detention on birthday

A Porirua man marked his 40th birthday by being sentenced to five months’ home detention for possessing child sexual abuse pictures.

David Jamison MacKay, unemployed of Titahi Bay, who turned 40 today, had previously pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing objectionable publications.

An Internal Affairs inspector examined a USB thumbdrive owned by MacKay and found images of children sexually posed. Most of them were of girls aged from six to eight years through to early teens. At various times the device had contained over 4000 images.

Judge Peter Hobbs declined to discharge MacKay without conviction because of the seriousness of the offending: “Offending of this kind is not victimless. It involves the exploitation of young children. The consumption or demand for such images is fuelled by those who are prepared to access and look at such images.”

ENDS