Just days away from the end of his 18-year career on the bench, Judge Kevin Phillips said 45-year-old Jaden Paul Harris’ attitude stood out among the thousands of cases he had overseen.
The Dunedin District Court heard the defendant called his crimes "a brain explosion" and "a joke" when he was interviewed before sentencing yesterday.
"This will ruin my career as a qualified archaeologist," Harris said.
He was sentenced to 10 months’ home detention.
On July 27 last year, the man saw a preschool-aged girl playing with a marble and led her to a room where they could be alone.
He tickled her stomach then molested her, only stopping when she told him she did not like it.
The girl immediately reported the sex attack and police raided Harris’ home two days later.
Digital forensic analysts found 182 images which had either been deleted or accessed from another device such as an external hard drive.
Harris had first viewed the material in May 2021 and had looked at it on the day of the indecent assault, investigators discovered.
Twenty of the objectionable files fell into the most serious category, featuring bestiality and the violation of infants.
One of the file names mentioned in court documents was "baby rape". Other descriptions are too graphic for publication.
A report on Harris identified him as having "limited insight".
"I don’t think you have any," Judge Phillips said.
While the defendant admitted being aroused by the child-abuse material, he was reluctant to discuss his sexual interests and was defensive throughout interviews with Probation, the court heard.
He was also critical of the police investigation into his crimes.
The judge said a restorative justice conference with the victim’s family also spoke to Harris’ lack of remorse.
"The whole conference was the people he had harmed being able to express their views and he wasn’t saying anything at all," Judge Phillips said.
He stressed that by viewing the child-sex images, Harris was complicit in the original crimes.
"Men such as you ruin those children’s lives," he said.
"I consider people who view this type of child sexual abuse photography on the internet a child abuser every time they look at it."
Crown prosecutor Craig Power argued Harris should be added to the Child Sex Offender Register.
"He poses a real and genuine risk to the safety of children," he said.
Judge Phillips agreed.
Harris was convicted of indecent assault and possessing an objectionable publication, and will remain on the register for eight years.
He was banned from using internet-capable devices during his home-detention sentence.
