A Dunedin man is accused of remotely erasing evidence from his cellphone while police investigated him for child sex offending.
Nicholas Birch (30) is on trial before the Dunedin District Court on charges of performing an indecent act on a person under 16 and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Crown prosecutor Robin Bates told the jury yesterday, the defendant contacted the complainant through Facebook when the boy was 15.
Birch allegedly offered the teenager $500 to indecently touch himself and that figure later rose to $1500.
He also asked the boy to send a photo of his genitalia via Snapchat, which he did, Mr Bates said.
A couple of days later, on August 29 last year, Birch allegedly picked up the complainant in his ute.
He drove them to Kettle Park, where the defendant played pornography on his cellphone, the teen told police.
It is alleged that while Birch was in the back seat, he reached into the front and touched the boy's genitalia.
He then made a lewd suggestion, which had not previously been discussed, Mr Bates said.
The complainant ``got creeped out'' and Birch took him home.
The court heard the pair discussed cash online over the following days, but the defendant never paid up.
The allegations only arose when members of the teen's family discovered he and Birch had been in contact.
In mid-September, police were informed and the officer in charge viewed Facebook exchanges.
Police executed a search warrant at Birch's home on October 14, during which they seized his iPhone.
They also questioned him that day.
Mr Bates said the jury would watch the interview during which Birch claimed he did not know how old the boy was.
Birch also told officers he and the teen had met twice - on one occasion there was touching, on the other there was not.
Two days later, police tried to open Birch's iPhone to review its contents but found it had been ``factory reset''.
That had deleted ``all the information from it. It showed as a brand-new phone,'' Mr Bates said.
``The Crown says that was done in order to obstruct the course of justice, the investigation.''
It is alleged Birch wiped the phone remotely, according to charging documents.
Counsel Len Andersen told the jury there were only a couple of issues to consider.
Birch said he did not touch the boy's penis.
``If you find he did, that's really the end of it,'' he said.
Mr Andersen accepted his client's cellphone had been reset, but the Crown had to prove Birch had been responsible.
The trial, before Judge Peter Rollo, will resume tomorrow.
