An international paedophile ring with New Zealand connections has been exposed by police, saving four children from further abuse, police say.
Aaron John Ellmers, 41, appeared in Hastings District Court today where he pleaded guilty to about 60 charges including sexual violation of children, stupefying, making an intimate visual recording, dealing in people for sexual exploitation and attempted sexual conduct with a child under 12.
He was remanded in custody for sentence in the High Court at Hastings in May.
Crown prosecutor Steve Manning said it was at the "absolute highest end'' of child sexual offending in the country, and successfully argued for sentencing to be moved to the High Court.
Ellmers also had a previous conviction for similar offending in Australia, the court was told.
People like this should not be out in the community without some sort of warning about their background. Here is a man who was already convicted in Australia, yet he comes over here and does the same things before being caught again.
Two other New Zealand men, in Canterbury and Auckland, also face several charges including sexual violation of children and making, possessing and distributing child abuse images, police said.Wow. It's going to be my mission to start documenting just how many of these types were have here. I've been letting these stories slip for too long.
The arrests follow a police operation targeting paedophiles in New Zealand and overseas which began in July last year and involved staff across the country including Northland, Auckland, eastern, Canterbury and southern districts.
As a result, four New Zealand children, aged 13 months to 13 years, had been saved from further abuse and police had made 35 referrals to authorities in Australia, the United Kingdom, United States of America and Canada, said Detective Senior Sergeant John Michael, head of OCEANZ, which is part of the National Criminal Investigations Group.
It is my belief that we are very lax on paedophilia in this country, not really treating it as the very serious crime that it is. I wonder if these men will actually serve time in prison, or if they'll just get a slap on the wrist. It'll be interesting. I personally think they should be put away for at least twenty years.
Thanks to Mzala for the reminder and the link to this story.
Related link: NZ police bust paedophile ring ~ NZ Herald
NZ: Land of Paedophiles
ReplyDeleteA bit of a generalisation, don't you think? In reckon you'll find that the overwhelming majority of NZers are repulsed by the behaviour of these three men.
More importantly, it is essential that the father who "sold" his 18-month-old for $500 cannot have contact with children again, unless under strict supervision.
I don't think many would disagree that the majority of Kiwis would be repulsed by this. The issue is not that this is a generalization, but rather, is it an exaggeration? With growing number of stories coming to light, we might find that this kind of sickness is far too prevalent for the majority of Kiwis to stomach.
ReplyDeleteBesides, if 1% of priests are found guilty of pedophilia, you find people such as Whaleoil considering that number can be rounded up to 99%, so why not push the point that these perverts hide in many more places in society than many are prepared to admit.
KS, it is a generalisation. I'm doing it on purpose in reaction to the all priests are paedophiles arguments that I'm constantly defending against - most of which are few and far between and historic.
ReplyDeleteI was listening to a police officer talking about the problem in NZ with people looking for child porn - he was saying that the problem is increasing.
NZ does seem to have a lot of paedophiles, there doesn't seem to be the stomach to really look into just how prevalent they are. The stories are all individual cases, yet when there are Catholic priest stories, the media try and link up as many other stories as they can to make it seem as if the problem is bigger than it is.
KS, it is a generalisation. I'm doing it on purpose in reaction to the all priests are paedophiles arguments that I'm constantly defending against -
ReplyDeleteWho mis making the argument " all priests are pedophiles? As far as I can see, the argument is that SOME (many?) priests are paedophiles and that the church has engaged in criminal behaviour to protect them.
most of which are few and far between and historic.
Is a crime less of a crime because it happened in the past? In fact, all crime is historic as time passes, but does that lessen the harm?
NZ does seem to have a lot of paedophiles, there doesn't seem to be the stomach to really look into just how prevalent they are. The stories are all individual cases, yet when there are Catholic priest stories, the media try and link up as many other stories as they can to make it seem as if the problem is bigger than it is.
No, again you are wrong.
As can be seen from the crimes you are mentioning above, the perpetrators have been caught and will be punished. There is no need to "link up" crimes that have no connection with each other, and your attempts to make paedophillia in NZ sound such a huge problem will not bear fruit.
Once again, the difference between catholic priest paedophies and other paedophiles is the institutional cover up, the moving of priests to other parishes, diocese or even countries without forewarning.
In this, the catholic church behaves just like any other organised criminal gang and should be treated as such.
Please, take a look at this, and then tell me again why you feel it is necessary to defend this evil in your midst.
http://youtu.be/shMIKAneJz8
LRO said: "Who is making the argument " all priests are pedophiles?"
ReplyDeleteYou need not go any further than Kiwiblog and Whaleoil to find such commentary, and it is far more widespread than that.
The issue of institutional cover-up is an issue not specific to the Catholic Church, and the NZ Government has been sweeping such things under the carpet for years as well. This does not excuse the Church, and it has adjusted its processes and procedures to weed out this evil more than many other institutions.
The intention here is not to defend those that deserve punishment, but to ensure those that are innocent are not persecuted simply for being a Catholic Priest, as the vast majority are good people.
As for your point that the perpetrators above are caught and being punished, that is because it is the year 2013. Back in the 70's when abusers were handed over to the court system, they didn't always go to jail, but instead were given counseling (Cases in the USA I reviewed). Extremely lenient and naive by today's standards, and yet those judges are not being criticised for those decisions today - what's the point of capturing pedophiles if the court system just lets them out to re-offend? And what message does such "punishment" send to others in the community? Perhaps that a couple of counseling sessions is all it takes to cure a pedophile? We know better today, but apparently we weren't so clear back then. Don't limit your criticism to just the Church, save some for the secular legal system too.