Dean Matthew Armstrong, 45, appeared before Judge David Robinson last week via video link at the Dunedin District Court.
His name suppression lapsed today.
He was sentenced on several charges relating to making and possessing objectionable publications, along with a representative charge of making a video of other persons without their consent.
In the victim impact statement, the father of one of the children filmed and photographed told Armstrong that he had robbed the girl of her innocence, and made him feel like "less of a father" for "allowing this to happen".
"I trusted you. I didn’t get any inkling you were capable of this," the father told Armstrong.
"Our daughter is constantly worried ... Her anxiety levels are high.
The summary of facts said police seized several devices belonging to Armstrong on July 9 this year after executing a search warrant.
Some of the material dated back to 2015 and included some he created of a 4-year-old victim in naked and in compromising positions.
The "historic" photos were on Armstrong’s digital hard drive.
Police also located self-created child exploitation material dating between 2021 and 2023 at Moana Pool, where he was assigned to look after the children he exploited.
In one instance, in 2021, he took 38 photos of a 10 year-old victim, most featuring her fully naked.
In April 2023, Armstrong captured photos and video of an 11-year-old victim undressing, unbeknownst to the victim.
Between May 2021 and July 2024, Armstrong and his wife owned a dairy. Using a covert camera, Armstrong recorded 19 victims’ underwear.
The police were unable to identify the customers when analysing the footage on Armstrong’s phone.
Police located 8744 files — nearly 3000 at the highest level of objectionable material.
Judge Robinson told Armstrong that "tremendous harm" had been suffered by his victims, which included those of the material he did not create.
There had been "an element of curation" of the offending material, the judge said.
While Armstrong had told police that he did not distribute any of the material he created, Judge Robinson said the victims had "justifiable fears" that this could happen regardless.
Judge Robinson set the sentencing at a starting point of six and a-half years, and then offered discounts for an early guilty plea, expressions of remorse and difficult family circumstances.
This led to a sentence of 47 months imprisonment for the offending.
There was "no indication" that Armstrong would have stopped offending had he not been caught, Judge Robinson said.
