New Zealand jails Australian man for bringing offensive images

An Australian traveler on Thursday began a jail term of two years and five months after he was convicted in a New Zealand court of bringing objectionable images into the country.

Thomas Arpad Meyer, 56, also faced deportation after serving the sentence, said a statement from New Zealand Customs.

Meyer was sentenced in the Auckland District Court on eight charges of importing objectionable publications and a court order was issued to destroy his electronic devices that had contained the objectionable images.

Many of the images showed dead and mutilated bodies of very young women and children who were victims of sexual crimes, torture, rape and murder, while others depicted women and young girls being tortured and sexually abused.

Customs officers had stopped Meyer in April on his arrival at Auckland Airport and initial screening of his laptop found a number of the objectionable images.

Detailed forensic examination of his electronic devices had identified more than 4,000 images in total.Customs manager investigations Maurice O'Brien said in the statement that the images depicted crimes and were not victimless.

"Each image involving a living victim depicts a sexual or heinous crime in progress. This crime is perpetuated when these images are circulated on the Internet, and they are re-victimized every time when the images are viewed. Images of dead bodies are also crime scenes," he said.