A Hawke’s Bay extremist who planned a mass stabbing attack has been sentenced to more than five years in prison.
Warning: This story contains details which may be distressing to some audiences
The 22-year-old, who had interim name suppression, was sentenced today to five years and four months in prison.
The man earlier pleaded guilty to 13 charges at the Napier District Court related to indecent communications, objectionable material, and threatening to commit a mass stabbing attack.
Police searching the Hastings man’s home on August 20 last year seized two electronic devices containing more than 2300 sexual abuse and exploitation images, including images and videos of child sexual abuse, bestiality and necrophilia. The devices also contained terrorist and violent extremist content.
A further investigation led to the identification of several of the man’s victims, including a child under the age of 16, who he had solicited sexually explicit images from.
The Department of Internal Affairs said it received an alert from the FBI On September 28, 2024 that a man planned to commit a mass stabbing attack on a mosque or mall on the date of his next court appearance. The FBI was notified after receiving a tip from the man's online associate.
Two bladed weapons were subsequently found in his bedroom by police, including a bayonet which he said would be used in the attack. A manifesto was also found detailing how he had been radicalised at the age of 19.
The man claimed to have been active in several violent online gaming and social media platforms with links to an extremist group known as 764.
The groups targeted children, the LGBTQIA+ community and other vulnerable people. The online groups would entice targeted victims to share nude images and engage in self-harm, before later using the material as leverage for extortion.
Detective Inspector James Keene said the man "preyed on the innocence of children by distributing horrific child abuse and exploitation images online, including personally requesting explicit images from a teenager".
"Any threats of mass harm, such as in this case, are always of concern to police, which is why we moved quickly to arrest this man, and sought to detain him in custody."
'Not a victimless crime'
At sentencing, Judge Richard Earwaker described the man's offending as "repugnant".
"It's clear that it's deliberate, it's premeditated, and what it reflects, as I found, is your own gratification of not only sharing it but also viewing this material," he said.
"And, because of the way that you've distributed this material, there's no way of knowing how many people have accessed the content.
"It is very important to emphasise that this type of offending is not a victimless crime."
Earwaker said the man's crimes perpetuated "sexual abuse of children and drives exploitation and offending against children all over the world".
"And this is made worse by the re-victimisation of the children as the material is distributed and redistributed online.
"So you need to be held accountable for the harm your involvement in this offending causes and perpetuates."
As part of his sentence, the judge ordered the man be registered as a child sex offender and the devices used during his offending to be destroyed.
SHARE ME