\u201cYes all good, make sure you don\u2019t save me as Ash in case your mum sees,\u201d Kipa replied. <\/p>\n
\u201cOMG thank you, I am broke and cannot afford,\u201d the girl replied. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo worries, no problem,\u201d he said, adding of the drugs available: \u201cI can get anything really.\u201d <\/p>\n
But the text exchanges didn\u2019t last long, and neither did the efforts at subterfuge. Within less than a week, the child\u2019s mother had caught on. She provided copies of the conversation to the school principal where Kipa worked. <\/p>\n
The principal called a prompt disciplinary meeting and invited police. During the meeting, police found methamphetamine and a pipe on Kipa. They also seized his phone. <\/p>\n
Kipa refused to give police the access code to his phone \u2013 another crime \u2013 but authorties were able to hack into it relatively easily and found nine objectionable images. <\/p>\n
Police obtained a warrant to seize and search a second phone in November 2024 and found 12 more images deemed to \u201cpromote and support the sexualisation of children\u201d. During the same search warrant, police found another meth pipe and a cannabis plant growing under a mounted light in a cupboard. <\/p>\n
District Court Judge Hermann Retzlaff. Photo \/ Twitter<\/p>\n
At the initial sentencing hearing, District Court Judge Hermann Retzlaff ordered a two-year starting point for the three counts of offering to supply drugs to the minor. <\/p>\n
He then uplifted the sentence by one month each for refusing to give his passcode and offending again while on bail for the first tranche of charges. A final uplift of 15 months was added for the objectionable material. <\/p>\n
The judge allowed 30% in combined credits for his guilty pleas and for his difficult background, with one more credit of two months factored in for his addiction issues. He declined a reduction for remorse. <\/p>\n
During Kipa\u2019s appeal hearing last week before Justice Geoffrey Venning, defence lawyer Sam Galler argued that the uplift for the child exploitation material had been too high. If it had been just three months lower, Kipa would have been eligible for a non-custodial sentence and sex offender registration would have been optional for the judge rather than mandatory. <\/p>\n
Galler emphasised that there were no videos in the relatively small collection and only one of the images portrayed penetrative sexual activity with a child. <\/p>\n
An uplift of no more than six months would have adequately addressed the seriousness of the offending, he initially argued, later revising the number to eight to 10 months. <\/p>\n
\u201cMr Galler argued that the offending was at the lower end of the spectrum and, having regard to the period of time since the offence had been committed and the very low static risk of objectionable material reoffending, registration should not be directed,\u201d Justice Venning noted in his decision. <\/p>\n
Justice Geoffrey Venning. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
Venning acknowledged the district court judge\u2019s 15-month uplift for the objectionable materials might have been too high when considering totality. But conversely, he said, the uplifts suggested by the defence were too low. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendant in the present case had potential access to young girls through his contact at school, which is evident from his other offending,\u201d Justice Venning explained. \u201cI consider that makes his possession of the material more sinister and more serious.\u201d<\/p>\n
He agreed with Crown prosecutor Keir Robinson that on appeal, a judge has to consider whether the overall sentence is manifestly excessive rather than focusing on a single element of the sentence. <\/p>\n
He pointed out that both the Crown and defence agreed during the district court hearing that the judge could have ordered a sentence of up to 28 months instead of the 24 months he settled on. <\/p>\n
In addition, Justice Venning said, the one-month uplift for offending on bail \u201cmight be regarded as generous\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cFurther, the discounts applied are also perhaps generous, particularly the 15% for Mr Kipa\u2019s background given that he was 45 years old at the time of the offending,\u201d the judge added. \u201cTen per cent could not have been criticised.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result, he opined, Kipa\u2019s sentence could have easily been more than two years even if the objectionable materials uplift was lowered. And even if a sentence of two years or less was imposed, Justice Venning said he would have ordered a prison term rather than allowing a non-custodial alternative. <\/p>\n
The combination of \u201coffering to supply drugs to a young girl on the basis she come to his home\u201d and twice getting caught with child exploitation material on his phones made prison the correct outcome regardless, he explained. <\/p>\n