Hamilton man, ‘unusually immature for his age', jailed after child exploitation bust
By Belinda Feek, Open Justice reporter of
] Jordan Te Iri-Kearns appeared in the Hamilton District Court earlier this week for sentencing.
Photo:
RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
A 23-year-old man with a "fetish for child porn" was caught "red-handed" with more than 100 objectionable videos and images of children as young as one year old.
Jordan Te Iri-Kearns has now been jailed after he was caught exchanging child exploitation videos with other people on Messenger and Telegram in 2023.
The court heard that when police raided his Hamilton home they discovered 113 videos and images on his devices.
Of those, 75 were videos and most were classified as Category A, the most serious kind, as they involve penetration of children or animals.
The material listed involved children between the ages of one and 12 years old.
When questioned by police, Te Iri-Kearns admitted he had a "fetish with child porn".
When Te Iri-Kearns appeared in the Hamilton District Court earlier this week for sentencing his lawyer asked for home detention.
However, Judge Tini Clark was concerned that Jordan Te Iri-Kearns had been assessed as someone who would go on to reoffend.
"Not just in terms of watching something but actually doing something," she told Te Iri-Kearns' counsel, Scott McKenna, before reaching her decision.
McKenna said he did not disagree, but the "absolute priority" should be to focus on doing something to "stop the conduct".
He said the offending was not at a level that required a prison sentence and said his client presented as someone who was "unusually immature for his age".
In arguing for home detention, McKenna acknowledged there had been multiple police callouts to the property but assured the judge that it would be suitable.
If the judge felt it was not, he asked that she adjourn proceedings so another house, possibly an apartment by himself, could be sought.
But Judge Clark said the reality was that the property was the only option at this stage.
The judge accepted he was genuinely remorseful and had been transparent with police about his behaviour.
She also questioned the full discount for a guilty plea, given he was caught "red-handed" with the offending material.
In deciding whether to send him to prison or allow home detention, Judge Clark said the offending was not simply about the numbers or amount of videos and images.
"But the need to look more carefully at the nature of the publications," she said.
"There's a distinction between the possession of videos and the possession of still images.
"Simply looking at the volume ... will not necessarily accurately confirm an offender's culpability."
Te Iri-Kearns had been "extremely forthcoming" with a report writer, admitting that he had "a porn addiction and has a high sex drive".
She accepted that while he had only distributed videos three times, they were to three different people, yet the purpose of the exchange was so that he could receive more videos.
McKenna had asked the judge to take a starting point of three years and six months' jail, while police had suggested five and a half years.
Judge Clark took four years and three months and agreed to allow a 25 percent discount for his guilty plea, 5 percent for remorse, and a 20 percent for his background factors.
That left 25 and a half months for which Te Iri-Kearns was jailed.
*
This story originally appeared in the
New Zealand Herald
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