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Michael Paul Graham was found to have been accessing child exploitation material for six years. Photo: Pixabay/shafin_protic
Warning: This story deals with the sexual abuse of children, in child exploitation material, and may be distressing.
A young Tauranga man was just 15 years old when he came across pornographic imagery and developed a "fascination" for and "addiction" to child sexual abuse material.
A psychological report provided to a judge said Michael Paul Graham was on the autism spectrum, making him "susceptible" to this kind of offending.
He'd also been living more of his life in the online space than in the real world, the report suggested.
Graham was found to have been accessing child exploitation material for six years.
In April 2025, on a social media application, he exported 20 objectionable publications depicting the sexual abuse of children.
The social media app was not identified; it was referred to only as Platform A in the summary of facts provided to NZME after Graham's sentencing on Friday in the Tauranga District Court.
The now 21-year-old was sentenced on two representative charges of possessing objectionable material and one representative charge of exporting objectionable material.
Judge Robert Spear said the material Graham had exported was "of the most appalling nature".
"Falling into what we describe as category 1A, in the categories of child sexual abuse material, involving penetrative sexual activity of a real child," he said.
While 20 publications were exported, Graham had in his possession 4402 objectionable publications in total, with the majority falling into categories 1B and 2B.
The summary of facts said 4373 of those were child exploitation material publications, and 29 were other objectionable publications.
There were 51 publications in the most serious category, 1A, and all the child sexual abuse publications involved real children.
Material was found on both a laptop and a smartphone.
'If there wasn't a market, there wouldn't be a product'
Judge Spear said it was important to recognise this wasn't a victimless crime.
"There are people who profit from making this ... and they do so causing real harm to the young people that are used and abused in that production," he said.
"As is often said, if there wasn't a market, there wouldn't be a product."
Judge Spear acknowledged that the usual consequence for offending like this was a sentence of imprisonment.
However, of particular concern to the judge was Graham's youth at the time he developed a "fascination" with the material.
The judge had asked prosecutor Hannah Speight, acting on behalf of the New Zealand Customs Service, for her views on the seriousness of the offending, given Graham was only 15 when his "addiction" began.
"If you're 35 years of age, or dare I say older, and in public office of a senior nature, as we've heard about recently, it must surely be less culpable for a 15-year-old entrapped with that sort of fascination than a mature adult?" Judge Spear
suggested.
Speight said this was best dealt with by a discount for youth, not an adjustment in starting point, and sought a starting point of four years' imprisonment with an uplift of 12 months for the charge of exportation.
She also said the length of the offending, and the amount of material Graham had possessed, warranted his registration on the Child Sex Offenders register.
"It does indicate a sexual interest in children and registration is in the public interest," she said.
However, Graham's lawyer, Bill Nabney, advocated for both a lower starting point and a discount for youth, but said that wasn't "double-dipping".
Nabney said half of the offending happened at a time when, had it been detected then, it would have placed Graham in the Youth Court jurisdiction.
The lawyer advocated for a starting point of 18 months' imprisonment, with an uplift of six months for the exportation charge.
He said registration on the Child Sex Offenders Register was not necessary in this case.
'Immersing himself in the virtual world ... more than in the real world'
Judge Spear determined a starting point of three years was appropriate, with a six-month uplift for the exportation charge.
He gave Graham a 25 percent discount for his guilty plea, and a 15 percent discount for his youth and background factors related to his autism spectrum disorder.
The judge said a helpful psychological report had also revealed Graham had "a level of autism" that made him "more susceptible to developing a fascination of this nature".
The report indicated Graham had been "a young lad, without a great group of friends, and perhaps immersing himself in the virtual world, the internet, more than in the real world".
However, the judge said Graham was now a young man of 21, who was capable and had completed a degree in computer science with good grades.
Despite the sentencing calculation not coming down below the usual home detention threshold of 24 months, Judge Spear determined Graham should serve a sentence of home detention.
While the end sentence, once discounts were applied, was two years and one month, this was still commuted to 11 months' home detention, with six months' post-detention conditions.
Judge Spear did not require registration on the Child Sex Offenders Register.
"You're a young man who got in over his head with a fascination with pornography, and that is the extent of it," the judge said.
"If I'm not correct in that, then this court will see you again. I hope it does not."
-This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
