Nelson woman avoids conviction for sharing image of partly naked woman
It was a 'salutary lesson' in how easy it was to end up facing criminal charges by sending digital material that could harm someone, police told NZME outside the Nelson District Court this week.
'This really was a perfect storm of factors that led to the offending,' defence lawyer Amanda Godwin said inside the court at the woman's hearing.
Judge Stephen Harrop said the 'real culprit' was the person who shared it initially. Photo / Lewis Mulatero
The defendant was charged after the victim complained to the police.
Judge Stephen Harrop said it was a serious charge, and the court recognised the serious harm caused to people by the posting of such material, but the defendant had since suffered 'serious abuse' online, making her a victim of harmful social media too.
She had suffered other consequences, including the loss of a contract linked to her business.
The court heard that in January this year, the defendant met on TikTok an Australian man, who had received the intimate image from the complainant via Snapchat.
He shared the image to a Messenger group of about 13 people, to which the defendant belonged.
Another member of the group 'doctored' the image to make it animated and shared it with the defendant, who sent it to the TikTok acquaintance to 'double check' that he had seen it.
The person who doctored the image and shared it has been charged and will be sentenced in a South Island court next month.
Judge Harrop said the 'real culprit' was the man who shared it initially, but he acknowledged that the victim was concerned about it having been reposted.
He said the circumstances were 'very different' to someone surreptitiously taking an image and posting it, and that the woman who had taken the image and sent it was part of the equation.
'We have a situation where the victim put it out in the first place, which was intended for one person but was then published to a group of 13,' Judge Harrop said.
'It does mean the seriousness of the offending is less than what appeared.'
He said the defendant had afterwards suffered a 'sustained campaign of harassment and abuse' online and that she too had become a victim.
She had since been diagnosed with a mental health condition that was likely to make her act impulsively, which was recognised by a psychologist in the pre-sentence report writing process.
The consequences of a conviction were therefore likely to be greater than they might be for someone more resilient, Judge Harrop said in granting a discharge without conviction.
The defendant was ordered to make a $200 emotional harm payment to the victim.
The judge also granted permanent name suppression.
He said the public 'may well conclude' that the woman should have been convicted and that it was unfair to discharge her and then allow her name to be published, even though that did not automatically follow.
'I'm satisfied for the reasons you were granted interim name suppression, and a discharge without conviction, the test for final suppression has been met,' Judge Harrop said.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ's regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government, for the Nelson Mail.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
4 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Supreme Court to hear appeal against sentence of man who committed rape at age 15
But lawyers for the Crown say he turned out to be a repeat sexual offender with no remorse, who assaulted two more young women when he was 18. The outcome of the case could determine if he will be sent back to prison – he is currently out on bail – or if he receives a community-based sentence and rehabilitation. Name and details suppressed The young man's name, personal details, and the identities of his victims are all suppressed. The rape victim was older than him. One of the other two women he went on to offend against several years later was older, the other younger. His first victim had consumed alcohol and drugs before the young man, at that time just 15 years old, gave her sleeping pills. She was unable to stay alert, and he raped her. The offending against the other two women happened when he was 18. The women each awoke to find him sexually assaulting them. The offences came to light later on and the young man, by then an adult, was charged in respect of all three women at the same time - one charge of rape and two of unlawful sexual connection. Found guilty by jury of rape He admitted the lesser sexual connection charges on the morning his trial was due to begin and was found guilty of the rape by a jury two days later. He was 21 years old when convicted, and was sentenced in a district court to three years and four months in prison after the judge took the rape as the most serious and 'lead' offence. He is now appealing against that sentence. The young man's case will be heard in the Supreme Court in Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell His lawyers, Letizea Ord and Emily Blincoe, say that if he had been charged with rape close to the time he committed it, he would probably have been dealt with in the youth justice system, for offenders aged 17 and under. The emphasis in the Youth Court is on rehabilitation. In their submissions his lawyers say it was 'highly unlikely' that he would have been sent to prison had he been dealt with there. They say that the two charges of unlawful sexual connection, which would have been dealt with in an adult court, would not have attracted a sentence of imprisonment on their own. They also say that the community would be safer if he were dealt with outside the prison system, with specialist treatment, because no targeted youth sexual offender programmes are available behind bars. Ord and Blincoe argue that New Zealand is an 'outlier' in how it deals with offences committed by minors but uncovered later. In England and Wales, an offender's age at conviction is specified in law, but sentencing guidelines are based on the outcome that was likely to have been applied at the date of the offence, and prison is a 'last resort'. The Australian states take a similar approach, and Canada has a law which says that youth justice legislation applies to all offending committed under the age of 18, regardless of when charges are laid. However, the Crown Law Office said New Zealand law did not support sentencing outcomes in such cases that disregarded the legislation and methodology of the adult courts in favour of the processes governing the 'intensely specialised' Youth Court. 'The appeal also requires the [Supreme] Court to engage with an artificial factual scenario: to treat [the appellant] as though he was still 15 years old for the purpose of sentencing,' the Crown submissions to the court said. 'That ignores the reality of the case before the court: a 22-year-old repeat sexual violation offender who denied any wrongdoing and remained unremorseful at sentencing. One who, up until the time this court granted him bail, had taken no steps towards rehabilitation.' The young man has so far spent 13 months in custody. He has engaged in rehabilitation since being bailed. The Supreme Court will begin hearing his case on Tuesday. Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME's Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke's Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
NZ Herald
11 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Stiff jail sentences for South American-linked Operation Bali cocaine and meth smuggling syndicate
She stayed in contact with her ex-husband back home, an alleged drug dealer named Eddy, and when her son joined her in New Zealand some years later, she helped him in his drug-dealing activities too. Now she is in prison. So is her Kiwi husband, her son and another South American immigrant, who all joined forces in a criminal group to import Class A drugs – cocaine and methamphetamine. The Wellington-based syndicate operated at least between February 2021 and June 2022, importing an estimated 28.6kg of methamphetamine and 5kg of cocaine. A joint police and Customs investigation, codenamed Operation Bali, was started after Customs intercepted several drug consignments at the border. The amounts in each and the packaging led Customs to believe the consignments were somehow related to each other. Joint investigation set up They notified police, and a joint investigation was set up, with a core group of five Customs investigators and between five and 10 police officers. Some of the suspects were identified as foreign nationals who were using Spanish in their communications. Spanish-speaking police officers were brought in to provide translations in 'close to real time', according to Detective Senior Sergeant Trevor Collett of the National Organised Crime Group. Collett told NZME that authorities have seen an increase in methamphetamine and cocaine coming into New Zealand in recent years from Central and South America. He said this could be attributed to the drug cartels in those areas expanding into the South Pacific. 'New Zealand is considered by international standards a very lucrative market for the sale of methamphetamine and cocaine,' Collett said. 'Users in New Zealand pay premium prices for the controlled drugs, and suppliers such as the South American cartels can maximise their profit by supplying the New Zealand market.' In Operation Bali, the drugs arrived in packages and consignments addressed to fictitious people, or hidden in imported items, including the legs of a wooden table, a plate from a roading compactor, a metal cog, and a sausage grill. Some of the meth seized in Operation Bali was concealed in a package containing a picture of the Virgin Mary. Photo / NZ Police Some of it was even in a package containing a painting of the Virgin Mary. Operation Bali culminated in June 2022, when police with 11 search warrants raided properties in Wellington, the Hutt Valley and Hamilton. Searches found $450,000 in cash The searches uncovered not only drugs, but also more than $450,000 in cash. The subsequent court cases resulted in hefty prison sentences for syndicate members, handed down by Justice Helen McQueen in the High Court at Wellington. Romero Lopez's New Zealand husband, Peter Alexander Wellman, got the stiffest prison sentence in the group after pleading guilty to importing cocaine, importing and supplying methamphetamine, conspiring to possess methamphetamine for supply, and money laundering. He was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison, with no chance of parole for three years and four months. Another leading member of the group, Sergio Antonio Vargas Gonzalez, was sentenced to seven years and three months for importing methamphetamine and cocaine. Romero Lopez's son, Juan Sebastian Galicia Romero, pleaded guilty to importing methamphetamine and cocaine and conspiring to possess meth for supply. He was sentenced to six years and nine months in jail. Romero Lopez herself, who said she was acting in deference to Wellman and to please her son, pleaded guilty to importing cocaine and money laundering. She was sent to prison for four years. Gonzalez's former partner, Frances Petersen, pleaded guilty to being a party to the importation of methamphetamine and received a sentence of eight and a half months of home detention. Peter Wellman used his company, Speciality Glaziers, to rent a storage container where the Class A drugs were extracted from imported goods and processed. Photo / Facebook Court documents say Wellman used his business, Speciality Glaziers, to rent a storage container where the drugs were extracted from the imported goods and processed. When police searched the house that Wellman and Romero Lopez shared, they found $144,000 hidden in the hot-water cupboard. The money laundering transactions for which Romero Lopez and Wellman were charged involved buying vehicles with cash – the couple paid $25,500 for a Nissan X-Trail SUV, and Wellman handed over $48,000 in cash for a caravan. Crash caused pain, financial hardship They explained their offending by saying it stemmed from a setback which caused them pain and financial hardship. Wellman and Romero Lopez were involved in a serious car accident in 2018. Wellman's ability to work was compromised by his injuries, and he turned to meth to deal with the pain while he was working. Before then, he had been considered a hard-working and highly regarded member of the community, according to references provided to the court from a former employer, a neighbour and friends. Wellman had previous convictions, not specified by the sentencing judge, but apart from a driving offence in 2002, they were all more than 30 years ago. But after Wellman started taking meth, he became addicted. His use increased dramatically, and he needed money to pay for the drug at the same time that he was earning less from his business and using up his savings. He was offered the chance to obtain meth at a reduced cost if he became a supplier and found other people to sell it to. Claudia Romero Lopez and Peter Wellman were both sent to prison. Photo / Facebook Early life abusive and chaotic Romero Lopez was described as having an 'extremely difficult personal history' in South America before moving to New Zealand 14 years ago. She came from poverty. Her early life was unstable and abusive, chaotic and traumatic. She was caught up in a gang-related drug cartel, although she later claimed that she had never used illegal drugs herself. She had no previous convictions. She was married for a while to the alleged drug supplier Eddy. She later met and married Wellman in New Zealand, but suffered spinal injuries in the 2018 car crash, leaving her unable to work. Romero Lopez claimed she was unaware of the cash found at her home, telling a probation officer that she looked after the house, and he looked after the money. '[I] didn't question where the money came from,' she was quoted as saying. 'Women from my culture and situation don't do that.' Romero Lopez said that some of her offending was to help her son, Galicia Romero, who took a leading role in the syndicate. She said she would 'try to do anything' to make her son happy. Galicia Romero worked with contacts overseas to send the drug imports to several New Zealand addresses. Court documents say he was personally responsible for the importation of 2.5kg of cocaine and 1kg of meth, and was found to have $63,450 hidden in a PVC pipe in his home. Galicia Romero, 27, was born in Colombia, and a report prepared for the court said that he grew up in the context of crime, violence and the idea that people could only succeed and get out of poverty through illegal activities. Another report said that when he was in his late teens, his father encouraged him to get to know older men involved in criminal activities, because they had money and status. Operation Bali officers discovered 6.1kg of meth hidden in the base plate of a roading compactor. Photo / NZ Police Galicia Romero joined his mother and two brothers in New Zealand under a family resettlement programme. He has previous convictions and has struggled with addiction to cocaine and alcohol. He faces possible deportation after finishing his sentence, and thus separation from his New Zealand-born son. $299,000 found in storage locker Vargaz Gonzalez was involved in importing the lion's share of the syndicate's drugs – 15.2kg of methamphetamine and 2.5kg of cocaine. Police found $299,000 hidden in a storage locker he had access to. He also directed his then partner, Petersen, to provide addresses where drug consignments could be delivered. These were sent to fictitious people, including 'Teresa Hendricks'. Teresa is Petersen's middle name, and Hendricks is her mother's maiden name. Petersen is a former psychology student who, according to court documents, is at risk of being trapped in a lifestyle of dancing in nightclubs, vulnerable to drug and alcohol use and predatory men. She applied for a discharge without conviction and name suppression, and was unsuccessful on both counts. Detective Senior Sergeant Collett said offshore drug suppliers were using increasingly sophisticated methods to conceal drugs coming into the country. In many cases, even the recipients don't know how the consignments will arrive and in what form until they receive the goods. Wristweights containing methamphetamine were seized by Customs during Operation Bali. Photo / NZ Customs Wastewater analysis and increased seizures show that cocaine use in New Zealand is on the rise. The national drugs in wastewater testing programme estimated that in the first quarter of 2025, the national consumption of the drug was 4.5kg a week. This compares with 3.3kg in the first quarter of last year. Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME's Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke's Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.
RNZ News
11 hours ago
- RNZ News
Senior police manager alleges 'boys' club' culture among Northland detectives
By By Shannon Pitman, Open Justice multimedia journalist of Detectives from the Northland CIB team have been giving evidence this week about allegations of bullying another staff member. Photo: NZME A senior police manager alleges she was met with swirling gossip, private group chats and a pervasive "boys' club" culture when she stepped into a leadership role overseeing the predominantly male detective team in Northland. The allegations now form the basis of an Employment Relations Authority (ERA) hearing in Whangārei this week. Bridget Louise Doell, a senior police officer with three decades of experience, was seconded to the crime area manager role in 2020, overseeing senior detectives in the criminal investigation branch (CIB) at Whangārei police station. The role involves operational oversight of inspectors, but Doell's evidence has been that the transition was met with resistance. Over the next three years, she claims she was sidelined by detectives, describing a toxic workplace culture marked by gossip, exclusion from key decisions, and repeated allegations of bullying. Doell said she eventually took a secondment to Auckland because she felt she could no longer run a district while detectives were speaking negatively about her behind her back. She filed a personal grievance against the Police Commissioner, seeking damages for humiliation. "I felt really duped," she said through tears at the hearing. Authority member Andrew Gane has heard evidence from several detective inspectors and former Northland district commander Superintendent Tony Hill. Former Northland district commander Superintendent Tony Hill. Photo: RNZ / Simon Rogers Doell has given a statement saying she was never formally welcomed into the role or introduced to key stakeholders, such as Mike Smith, who was the Northland Crown Solicitor at the time. In one case, she said she tried to contact Smith for six months to discuss a case, but never heard back from him. Smith told the authority it wasn't his decision to lay charges and, by the time a meeting was held about the case, other detective inspectors had been assigned. Doell alleges that, when detective inspectors Shane Pilmer and Dene Begbie met the Crown on her case, they had gone over her head. "I felt Dene interjected more than he should. He should have left it to me to meet with the Crown." Her lawyer, Maria Dew, KC, questioned Smith on whether he had intentionally avoided her phone calls, suggesting it may have been because of disparaging remarks made by Begbie. Smith denied the claim. "The only conversation I could recall was he sang her praises - said she's come from Auckland, it's a step up," Smith said. He said Begbie had suggested he meet Doell but, when pressed by Dew, Smith conceded the meeting never happened and he could not recall why. Inspector Al Symonds gave evidence around a period in 2022 while he was acting area commander and sharing an office with Doell. Doell returned from a conference in Auckland to find her desk broken and her personal belongings gathered in a box on the floor outside the office. Symonds, who was temporarily in the role for only four months, gave evidence that he had moved her desk to reach cables and it had collapsed. He said he believed he needed privacy in his role and could not share an office. Dew put to him that it was a humiliating experience for Doell, just one of many. When Superintendent Tony Hill heard about the incident, he recognised it would have been humiliating and allegedly told Symonds to apologise. But Symonds said he never received that request and had nothing to apologise for. It was around this time that a workplace survey was released on the Northland CIB, which highlighted its negative culture. "I'd heard about personality clashes. It was gossip I didn't pay attention to," Symonds said. "Had you heard anything about Bridget's behaviour?" Dew asked. "Not specifically," Symonds responded. The authority member asked Symonds about his view of the culture at the time, to which he responded that there was a lot of hurt going on. "It's not Bridget that was doing that, it wasn't directed at her. There was a lot of stuff going on that I think had to be fixed," Symonds said. The authority member then asked Symonds whether he recognised that the desk incident could have made her feel humiliated. "Well, I can't say what she felt. It wasn't my intention." Throughout the hearing, statements have been made about Detective Inspector Joshua Lautogo's strained relationship with Doell, including an alleged incident in which he was witnessed bad-mouthing Doell "with hate in his eyes". The staff member who witnessed Lautogo's alleged outburst reported the incident up the chain. However, when Lautogo gave evidence, he said the incident never occurred. Evidence was put to Lautogo that he had been making disparaging remarks about Doell, specifically in text messages to Detective Inspector Kevan Verry. "It's born out of my frustration at the time in dealing with Bridget, and it is an example of managing up and expressing frustration to my direct supervisor," Lautogo said. He felt as though Doell was systematically targeting him and, when he raised questions, he was misconstrued as being argumentative. Lautogo told the authority he ended up leaving because he could no longer work with Doell. Detective Inspectors Verry, Rhys Johnson, Geoff McCarthy and David Lynch have also given evidence. The case finished on Friday, with a decision to be released at a later date. -This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
