Benjamin Woods, who posed as a child online, jailed for exploiting girls

Warning: This story details the sexual abuse of children and contains information that may cause distress for some readers.

A Wellington man who pretended to be an 11-year-old online while grooming and sexually exploiting young girls has been jailed for his offending - crimes his victims say left them "broken", "scared" and unable to trust others.

Benjamin Woods, 36, was sentenced by Judge Ian Carter at the Wellington District Court last week.

Woods is the man who exploited two pre-teen sisters, *Amy and *Ivy, who, together with their mother, *Victoria, spoke exclusively to the Herald about the ordeal before Woods' sentencing.

The trio wanted to raise awareness about the dangers of social media.

The Herald can now reveal that Woods targeted a third New Zealand girl and obtained and shared hundreds of child sex abuse images and videos of other children from around the world.

A police summary of facts obtained by the Herald shows Woods boasted about his abilities to get what he wanted while talking to other paedophiles.

Late last year, the summary said, Woods messaged a person on WhatsApp a picture of a girl in her underwear, saying, "Here's another cute girl I'm working on at the moment. She's a bit shy, but I hope I can get her naked."

Woods followed a strategy to obtain child sex abuse material from his victims, according to the summary.

He'd start by confirming they were under the age of 16 years and engage them in ordinary conversations "to gain their trust and friendship", the summary said.

Woods groomed his New Zealand victims on social media sites including Zoomarang, Discord and Telegram while claiming he was an 11-year-old girl.

The Herald is unable to report the screen name he used because of a suppression ruling.

Once he'd established a trusted online friendship, Woods sent explicit child exploitation images from material he'd accrued over a four-year period to the three New Zealand girls he was targeting.

He encouraged all three victims, including sisters *Amy and *Ivy, to create similar self-generated explicit content and then send him the images or videos.

All three girls, thinking they were engaging with a childhood friend, followed Woods' instructions.

Victims' statements

At sentencing, the father of one of Woods' victims read out statements on behalf of his daughter and his ex-wife.

"The implications of this man's actions will affect my family for the rest of our lives. I've cried; I've yelled at what has happened. My little girl will never be the same again", he told the court.

He said Woods deliberately made his daughter scared so she wouldn't disclose what was happening.

"No child should be scared to talk to their parents about anything. You've stolen my girl's innocence by your filthy thoughts and actions," he said.

The father then read a statement on behalf of his daughter.

"Sometimes I feel a tear and other times I feel broken. I will never be able to trust others unless we are close," his daughter said.

She explained how she felt her relationship with her parents changed after Woods' offending.

"I fear my family doesn't like me any more, even though they have reassured me that they do," she said.

The girl's mother said Woods' offending had turned the family "upside down" and the pressure he put on her daughter meant the mother was unable to protect the girl.

"In one swift, disgusting moment, you took that away from me. You created doubt in my child's mind and in my mind, so I would never be able to protect her again," her statement said.

The two sisters the Herald interviewed also gave statements which were read by their mother, *Victoria.

"I cry a lot and have nightmares and experience panic attacks," one of the girls said.

Her sister's statement said she feels "scared, isolated and trapped" by what happened.

"He [Woods] should get 250 years of jail for hurting us and other kids," she said.

Victoria told the court Woods had changed "every aspect" of their lives, saying the family had moved three times since the offending came to light.

She said her daughters feel self-blame, shame and guilt - a burden they should "never have had to carry or experience".

"Life will never be the same again," she said.

A predator's downfall

Woods' downfall came on 13 January this year, when he was logged into his TikTok account where he'd created another fake persona as an 11-year-old girl.

A police informant in the United States thought the account looked suspicious and engaged Woods in a conversation while also pretending to be a young girl.

It wasn't long before their chat on TikTok moved to iMessage and Woods asked, "Can you take your top off?", confirming the suspicions of the informant, who then notified authorities.

The following day, police swooped on Woods' home and seized two iPhones, an iPad and a laptop as well as some older devices.

He refused to give up the pin codes and passwords to investigators. He had "no comment", according to the summary of facts.

A forensic examination of his electronics would later unearth a total of 984 objectionable images and videos of children.

Around 3000 chatlogs from applications including Telegram, Justalk, TikTok, Discord, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and via iMessage were discovered. All were used to distribute or obtain child exploitation material.

Lawyer: Woods seeking treatment

Woods' lawyer, Marty Robinson, said his client wanted to acknowledge the victims and their supporters who had come to court for the sentencing.

Woods, who had interests in music and sang in a choir, was remorseful and apologetic, he told the court.

"He appreciates this is far more serious than he understood at the time."

Robinson said it would also come as a shock to many in the public gallery that character references provided to the court spoke of a man who was both supportive and helpful to those around him.

Those supporters were at a loss to understand this offending, he said.

But his client also accepted he had a "different psychology" and, having recognised this, Woods was keen to seek treatment. The court heard Woods accepted that prison was inevitable and he would have to be moved to a different prison to get that treatment.

Police prosecutor Kelly Cumming emphasised that Woods shared explicit child sex abuse material not only with his victims but also with other online predators so he would receive more material in return.

Judge Carter acknowledged the parents for reading "very articulate" victim impact statements.

He said those statements, coupled with the restorative justice report, provided a lot of information about the significant impact the offending had on the two families.

"Each describes significant effects on their daily lives and a change for the worse in their relationships," he said.

The adverse effects were not only mental and emotional, but also financial, with one family having to move three times.

"The effects are wide-ranging and considerable," he said.

Judge Carter said the aggravating features in the case included the age and vulnerability of Woods' victims, who ranged in age from eight to 14 years.

The offending also occurred over a long period, at least between 2020 and 2024, although the judge said it wasn't known exactly how long Woods had engaged in this online activity.

Woods was sentenced to six years and five months' jail on 12 charges, including possession of objectionable material, copying objectionable material and grooming children.

The judge also ordered the destruction of the objectionable material and the forfeiture of the seized devices.

Woods will be placed on the sex offenders register.

The courtroom was quiet as the sentence was handed down and Woods left the dock, his head down.

- This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald

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