Disgraced former deputy police commissioner Jevon McSkimming has avoided jail time, instead sentenced to nine months home detention, at the Wellington District Court this afternoon.
He pleaded guilty in November to three representative charges of possessing objectionable publications, namely child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.
In handing down his sentence, Judge Tim Black declined to order McSkimming's registration on the child sex offending registry, as his risk to the community was assessed as low.
His lawyer Letizea Ord told the court he was "very remorseful", and had described himself as "deeply ashamed".
In front of an almost-full public gallery, McSkimming stood in the dock, shifting his weight, and nodding occasionally as the judge handed down his sentence.
From a starting point of three years, Judge Black applied reductions of fifty percent for the early guilty plea, rehabilitation efforts, the steps he had taken at his home to prevent reoffending, as well as prior good character and remorse.
"You've done a lot of good in the community, as well as the bad reflected in this offending," he told McSkimming.
He arrived at a sentence of nine months per charge home detention, to be served concurrently, noting his career made him a "prime target for serious violence" in prison.
McSkimming's offending included 2945 images, about 1900 searches for material of a sexual nature, 432 of which were intended or highly likely to return objectionable material.
About a third of the material fell into the category of child sexual abuse - mostly cartoon or AI generated images - and the rest contained depictions of beastiality.
A small number of images showed real children.
They were searched for and viewed using his work phone, sometimes during work hours, between July 2020 and December 2024.
Crown prosecutor Barnaby Hawes told the court that although many of the images did not depict real people or situations, it was not a victimless crime - such material contributed to the sexualisation of children, and promoted and normalised child abuse.
Hawes said the offending demonstrated a "profound breach of trust" - during work hours McSkimming was committing a serious crime, while other police officers around him were investigating the very offenses represented in that imagery.
It had also undermined the public's confidence in the police more generally.
Ord argued during her submission her client's offending was not sophisticated, taking the form of Google searches, and he had not used any skills he'd gained as part of his job to access the material.
She told the court McSkimming had an addiction to porn which "simply overwhelmed him".
He had "suffered a very, very significant fall from grace" due to these events, Ord said. He had lost his financial security, his career, and was likely to be ostracised by his profession.
He had also experienced relentless press exposure and public aggravation, which had had a significant psychological impact on him, she said.
There was no sign of McSkimming exiting the front door of the court before it closed at 5pm.
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