A former Auckland executive has been convicted of hiring an underaged girl for sex and sentenced to home detention.
Appearing on Monday in the Auckland District Court, the man was denied permanent name suppression but still cannot be named as his lawyer lodged an appeal.
He was sentenced to 10 months home detention and ordered to pay $3000 in emotional harm reparation.
Judge Kathryn Maxwell said the defendant "enticed" the victim knowing she was too young to be offering commercial sex services.
She referred to the summary of facts where he had described himself as a "sugar daddy" and admitted coaching the girl in an attempt to avoid prosecution, by telling her she could not say he had paid her for sex.
The executive pleaded guilty in November, admitting that he received "commercial sexual services" from a person aged under 18.
Two other charges were withdrawn.
At the time of entering a plea, Judge Belinda Sellars KC granted an application from the executive’s lawyer, Graeme Newell, to suppress the executive’s name and the name of his employer.
Newell said the man was not in control over the "ripple effect" it would have on his life. He had pleaded guilty the week after his arrest.
"He just needs some time to put his affairs in order and to give me more information about his family," Newell said.
The judge didn’t convict the executive at the time, as per the lawyer’s request – he was released on bail until sentencing this month.
Bail conditions included a requirement to live at his home address, and to not contact the victim. He could only associate with under 16s when supervised.
Under the terms of his home detention sentence, he cannot access or hold any social media account; he must make available to probation officer any device capable of accessing the internet.
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