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New Zealand Customs Service v Swinney [2022] NZDC 5720

Published 06 March 2023

Sentencing — accessing objectionable publications — exporting objectionable publication — name suppression. The defendant was for sentence on charges of accessing objectionable publications and exporting an objectionable publication. He had pleaded guilty after receiving a sentencing indication showing a start point of 27 months' imprisonment. He had begun to view child pornography as a reaction to personal problems that he was facing. The Court was satisfied that a community-based sentence was appropriate, because of the problems that imprisonment would cause to the defendant's wider family. Also, the defendant had shown remorse and had taken significant steps towards rehabilitation. The final sentence was six months' community detention and two years' intensive supervision, and the Court also granted the defendant final name suppression in order to protect his children from bullying. Judgment Date: 31 March 2022. * * * Note: names have been changed to comply with legal requirements. * * *