McKenzie Henry Thomas Ray Carroll (22) narrowly avoided a term of imprisonment when he appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday but Judge Jim Large told him it would not happen if he offended again.
"You’ll inevitably be going to prison. That’s a given," he said.
In 2015, Carroll was jailed for four and a-half years on four counts of unlawful sexual connection with a boy under 12 and four of indecent assault, before the Napier District Court.
When he was released from prison, the defendant remained a concern to authorities.
In January 2018, the High Court imposed an extended supervision order (ESO) for the maximum period of 10 years.
The orders allow Corrections to monitor and manage long-term risk posed by high-risk sex offenders or very high-risk violent offenders in the community.
It means offenders remain under scrutiny and gives them access to treatment to prevent relapses.
In mid-2019, Carroll contacted a 15-year-old female relation through social media and also searched and viewed objectionable material on the internet, via cellphone, once or twice a week.
The conditions of his ESO bar him from contacting people under 16 or from possessing an internet-capable device.
Carroll was sentenced to 80 hours’ community detention for the two breaches but it did not deter him.
On July 27, the defendant was found with a cellphone by staff at his supported accommodation.
When interviewed by Corrections, he admitted he had bought the cellphone a month earlier and had received objectionable images from someone he met online.
Counsel Brendan Stephenson said, notwithstanding the breaches, his client was making "good progress" with a therapist.
"Mr Carroll is on a complex and long road dealing with and managing the issues that underlie his index offending," he said.
Prison, Mr Stephenson submitted, would have an unduly disruptive impact on Carroll’s rehabilitation.
Judge Large agreed and imposed three months’ home detention.
