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Auckland man Joshua David Evans has been sentenced to six months’ community detention (the maximum available), 12 months of intensive supervision, and 120 hours of community work for his possession of objectionable material, which included images and videos depicting the sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
His sentence follows an investigation by the Department of Internal Affairs’ Digital Child Exploitation Team.
The 41-year-old appeared in the Waitakere District Court yesterday, February 24, after earlier pleading guilty to three representative charges for his possession of 93 objectionable images and videos, depicting the sexual abuse of children as young as babies.
In a media release, DIA says an investigation into Evans was launched following a report from the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which indicated that he had uploaded a child sex abuse file onto an online platform.
On September 4, 2024, a search warrant was carried out at his residential address, where multiple devices were seized for forensic examination. In a subsequent interview with investigators, Evans admitted to the offending, stating he had accessed the child sex abuse files as he “wanted to try and understand it.”
“These aren’t just abstract images on a screen. They typically show real children experiencing real abuse. Anyone who seeks out this material is fueling a demand for more of it, which is why limiting access is so critical,” Tim Houston, Manager Digital Child Exploitation Team, says.
“The public can be assured that we take these crimes extremely seriously. We are committed to disrupting access and preventing further harm.”
The judge ordered the destruction of the objectionable publication materials found on his devices. Evans was not required to register as a child sex offender.
In 2024, the Digital Child Exploitation team conducted 69 investigations into child exploitation and helped to safeguard 14 New Zealand children from harm. Additionally, the Digital Child Exploitation Filtering System blocked over one million attempts to access websites hosting child sexual abuse material.
