Callum Joshua Jones, 34, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after earlier pleading guilty to indecent assault and exposing a young person to indecent material.
Judge David Robinson added two years to the two-year and four-month prison sentence he was already serving for sexual offending in 2023.
The court heard that Jones gained the trust of the victims’ parents after they met through a mutual interest.
Between April 2022 and April 2023, the eldest boy would stay with Jones, who indecently assaulted him on up to 10 occasions.
The defendant offered to buy him a bike if he kept quiet about the offending.
Jones sent a picture of his genitals to the younger brother via Snapchat.
The boy confronted Jones and said he did not want to receive pictures like that again.
The mother of the boys read a statement to the court yesterday and said Jones’ crimes had torn her apart.
"The level of manipulation was top tier," she said.
"The lies, the stories, the abuse of trust and power ... not a day goes by that I don't think of the horrors he subjected my children to."
She talked about how Jones gave one of the children a debit card and took the eldest boy on trips away to get him alone.
They had to sell their family home, which Jones had "tainted" with his offending, and threw away the beds.
The family had let Jones set up their Wi-Fi.
They later discovered the two sons were on his phone plan.
He had taken over the phone permissions and on one occasion hacked one victim’s computer remotely.
"We all trusted Callum, treated him like family and put him in a position of power," the mother said.
The victims’ grandmother also read her statement to the court, and asked Jones to look her in the eye while she did.
"You obviously had perfected the art of seducing children.
"Your damage can never be removed, it will remain a stain forever in the lives of those children," she said.
"I hope you feel the true shame of your actions."
Judge Robinson noted Jones committed his offending while on bail conditions not to contact or be in the company of anyone under 16 and not to access the internet.
"State intervention by way of charges did little to preclude you from continuing," the judge said.
He said his behaviour demonstrated "all the hallmarks of grooming" and there was "a degree of sophistication" to his crimes.
"The manipulation is remarkable," he said.
"It's quite apparent that you had engaged in a pattern of behaviour."
In 2023, Jones was jailed for two years and four months for grooming and abusing a teenage boy after he was given accommodation during lockdown.
"You might consider the sentence appears light, it's the sentence I’m required to impose as a matter of law," he told the victims’ family.
He reminded them Jones would still have the "substantial hurdle" of convincing the parole board he should be released.
