An Auckland executive has admitted receiving “commercial sexual services” from a person aged under 18.<\/p>\n
The man, whose name is suppressed, appeared in the Auckland District Court on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Judge Belinda Sellars, KC, granted defence lawyer Graeme Newell’s application to suppress the executive’s name temporarily and the name of his employer.<\/p>\n
“His employer has just been advised about this.”<\/p>\n
The employer would like to be heard about suppression at sentencing.<\/p>\n
“If he is named then they are named if one does a quick Google search.”<\/p>\n
The executive hadn’t yet told his family about the prosecution.<\/p>\n
Newell said the executive was arrested on Friday and was facing three charges. After the guilty plea was entered, two other charges were withdrawn.<\/p>\n
It had all happened quickly and the man wasn’t in control of the enormous “ripple effect” it would have on his life.<\/p>\n
“He just needs some time to put his affairs in order and to give me more information about his family.”<\/p>\n
At Newell’s request, the judge didn’t convict the executive.<\/p>\n
The charge the man admitted was amended in court from one of receiving commercial sexual services from a person aged under 14, to receiving them from someone aged under 18.<\/p>\n
The maximum sentence for that charge is seven years’ jail.<\/p>\n
The two withdrawn charges were that, between October 11 and 29, the executive communicated with a girl aged under 16 with the intent of facilitating sex with a minor.<\/p>\n
Over that same time period, he was accused of sending the same girl explicit messages over Snapchat.<\/p>\n
The man appeared in a navy suit jacket over a dark T-shirt.<\/p>\n
He had no offending history aside from a traffic matter several decades ago.<\/p>\n
He was released on bail until sentencing in March.<\/p>\n
The executive’s bail conditions require him to live at his home address and not to contact the victim. He can only associate with under 16s when supervised.<\/p>\n
Judge Sellars ordered a pre-sentence report, which would cover all sentencing options available.<\/p>\n
Outside court, the executive and his lawyer declined to comment.<\/p>\n