{"id":560343,"date":"2026-08-06T02:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T02:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/560343\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T02:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T02:12:12","slug":"wider-appeal-after-man-charged-over-child-sexual-abuse-material","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/560343\/","title":{"rendered":"Wider appeal after man charged over child sexual abuse material"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  [&amp;_p]:tit-sub-xl tit-sub-xl md:[&amp;_p]:d-tit-sub-xl md:d-tit-sub-xl mb-[1.3rem]\">A Northland man is facing child sexual abuse material charges after community concerns led police to the discovery of child exploitation images on his devices as investigators appeal for information about any historical offending.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Northland Police arrested the 67-year-old in the Waipapa area on Friday, following an investigation by the Kaitaia Child Protection Team that began in February.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Detective Inspector Rhys Johnston said police were approached by members of the public about an individual&#8217;s behaviour around young people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">This prompted further inquiries by the Kaitaia Child Protection Team and led to a search warrant being carried out at the 67-year-old man&#8217;s address on the Karikari Peninsula.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;At the time we seized a range of electronic devices. It has resulted in the analysis of tens of thousands of images in recent months which has led to us laying charges in this case.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The man has been charged with five representative charges of possessing objectionable publications with knowledge of its contents, which Johnston said related to child sexual abuse material.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">He appeared in the Kaitaia District Court and was remanded in custody to reappear on August 13, 2026. Police expect more charges to be laid as the investigation continues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Johnston said the man&#8217;s history in other parts of the country had prompted a wider appeal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;The male has only lived in the Far North region in the last few years, but we are aware he has previously lived on Waiheke Island and across the Auckland region from the 1990s up until his move to this part of the country. He also lived in Australia for several years,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-greyDarkFaded\">The morning&#8217;s headlines in 90 seconds, including a billboard blunder for Auckland\u2019s CRL, dangerous turbulence on a flight, and a new twist in the Beckham family feud.  (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">He urged anyone with concerns to come forward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;I&#8217;m encouraging anyone with information or who holds any concerns or knowledge of anything untoward having occurred to come forward, or to approach an advocate who can come to police on your behalf,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;Please come forward. You can be assured that we will treat your information in-confidence and ensure the right support services are engaged to assist you moving forward.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The Kaitaia Child Protection Team is working with local families and Oranga Tamariki, and Johnston praised those who had raised the alarm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;We acknowledge those in the community who spoke up and came forward to us, they absolutely did the right thing,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/where-to-get-help-for-sexual-violence-XPSUQW64X5E5LF55GVAIQVKZ44.png\" alt=\"Where to get help for sexual violence.\" width=\"800\" height=\"448\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-hi5x8q-0 cWTYyG image-metadata\">Where to get help for sexual violence. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Northland man is facing child sexual abuse material charges after community concerns led police to the discovery&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,42,43,1067,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-560343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-northland","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}