{"id":641595,"date":"2026-10-26T07:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T07:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/641595\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T07:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T07:44:12","slug":"jesse-laurenson-sentenced-for-possessing-nude-images-requested-from-15-year-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/641595\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesse Laurenson sentenced for possessing nude images requested from 15-year-old"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 30-year-old appeared in the Whang\u0101rei District Court<\/a> for sentencing after admitting a charge of possessing an objectionable publication with a girl he met on Discord.<\/p>\n

In 2014, Laurenson was 17 and they began messaging, progressing to an online relationship until 2018.<\/p>\n

They have never met in person.<\/p>\n

When the victim was 15 and Laurenson was 21, he requested she send him nude photos.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was reluctant, but you told her that you would do anything for her,\u201d the court heard.<\/p>\n

He sent her photos of himself naked and the victim sent several images of private body parts.<\/p>\n

The victim\u2019s impact statement was pre-recorded and played in court, where she said she developed a deep emotional attachment to Laurenson.<\/p>\n

She said at first she felt excitement but those feelings quickly changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a child, I mistook that attention for love and genuine care.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back now, I feel a profound sense of grief for the innocence and normal childhood experiences that were taken from me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said years of manipulation, control and threats left her feeling worthless and maintaining the secret relationship took a toll on every aspect of her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the relationship I was exposed to sexual material and pressured into behaviours that I was not nor developmentally prepared for.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she was terrified of losing the relationship and felt trapped between her discomfort and fear of abandonment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy understanding of relationships and intimacy became distorted at a very young age. I often believed that my value as a person depended entirely on what I could do for others.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman said she was doing well today but still has significant trauma and PTSD.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look at my children now I am reminded of how young I was when the abuse began. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a parent, I find myself worrying about dangers that other people may never have to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victim reported the abuse to US authorities who eventually located Laurenson in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe victim was 15 when Laurenson requested nude pictures from her. Photo \/ 123RF<\/p>\n

Crown lawyer<\/a> Danica Soich said the charges were category C but one photo was obtained through pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoercion is how I\u2019ve recorded it,\u201d Judge Gene Tomlinson said.<\/p>\n

Soich said it was considered grooming to an extent, but Judge Tomlinson interrupted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sentencing him for the online sexual abuse and grooming because none of that\u2019s in the summary of facts and he\u2019s not charged with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soich said Laurenson had exploited the relationship and accepted he knew the victim was 15 when he obtained the images.<\/p>\n

\u201cOffending of this nature is always serious,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She also questioned the sincerity of his remorse, noting his letter to the judge contained only a single sentence referring to the victim.<\/p>\n

Laurenson\u2019s lawyer Mathew Ridgley reminded the court he was not being sentenced on the relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not a matter for sentencing today,\u201d Ridgley reminded the court.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"LaurensonLaurenson was sentenced in the Whang\u0101rei District Court. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

But Judge Tomlinson noted the relationship provided background to the circumstances enabling the coercion.<\/p>\n

Ridgley said it was accepted there was coercion but only regarding one image and Laurenson\u2019s remorse was indicated in his early guilty plea.<\/p>\n

\u201cParliament has now said that when a defendant enters a guilty plea as early as this, he gets 25%,\u201d Ridgley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHmmmm I\u2019m not so sure about that,\u201d Judge Tomlinson responded.<\/p>\n

Judge Tomlinson said there was limited case law on this type of offending involving teenagers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts not like a 50-year-old man getting something from a 15-year-old girl. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no precedent I can look at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Tomlinson asked both counsel how old Laurenson was when he realised she wasn\u2019t 16, but neither counsel had an answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt law Mr Laurenson you are an adult and in New Zealand … she was a young person. A young person in New Zealand is under 18.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge said in screenshots presented to police, Laurenson had referred to her as being 15 on three occasions and when questioned by police made some revealing statements.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou said you were always worried this would come back up,\u201d Judge Tomlinson said.<\/p>\n

Judge Tomlinson said there was a power imbalance due to the significant age disparity and coercion to obtain \u201cat least one, if not more of those images\u201d.<\/p>\n

The judge noted the offending was \u201cyouthful\u201d and Laurenson was living a successful life.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease continue to live a good life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laurenson was sentenced to five months\u2019 community detention and 12 months\u2019 supervision.<\/p>\n

Pre-sentence reports said he was not a risk to children and was therefore not added to the child sex offender registry.<\/p>\n

Shannon Pitman is a Whang\u0101rei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ng\u0101puhi\/Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n

Join the NZ Herald\u2019s Open Justice team for Case by Case<\/a>, a video and podcast series examining the disputes and decisions making headlines across New Zealand. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 30-year-old appeared in the Whang\u0101rei District Court for sentencing after admitting a charge of possessing an objectionable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[13236,1763,2511,1968,6286,2082,71,5606,2537,314650,111,139,28463,69,27304,6289,110108,5161,544,213,1961,96,1455],"class_list":["post-641595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-15yearold","tag-article","tag-child","tag-discusses","tag-exploitation","tag-for","tag-from","tag-images","tag-jesse","tag-laurenson","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nude","tag-nz","tag-possessing","tag-readers","tag-requested","tag-sentenced","tag-some","tag-sports","tag-this","tag-upsetting","tag-warning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641595","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=641595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}