The Otago Daily Times can name a Wanaka man who has admitted to possessing child pornography.
Jamie Stewart Baxter (44), a computing professional, admitted a charge of possessing 30 objectionable publications when he appeared in the Queenstown District Court yesterday.
Judge David Saunders remanded Baxter on bail for sentencing on October 16, and lifted interim name suppression granted at his first court appearance on June 11.
Prosecuting Sergeant Ian Collin said police seized Baxter’s cellphone and laptop on August 23 last year on an unrelated matter.
The cellphone was found to contain images of partly clad pre-teen girls in sexually provocative poses, so a search warrant was obtained and "hundreds" of similar images were found on the laptop.
They included images of bondage involving children, adults having sex with children, children performing sexual acts and children in sexualised poses. Many of the girls were under 10 years old.
The laptop’s internet history showed that on August 10 and 11 last year, the defendant searched for child exploitation material using keyword phrases containing the word "preteen".
The police had selected and categorised 30 jpeg images for sentencing purposes.
Baxter declined to make a statement when police spoke to him about the images, Sgt Collin said.Baxter’s counsel, Louise Denton, said he failed to appear in court on Monday because he "panicked" and flew to Auckland to tell his mother about the charge.
The conditions of his bail are that he is not to be alone in the company of anyone under 16, must surrender his passport, and live at his home address.
The charge, under the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act 1993, carries a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $50,000.
