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Offender Databases Alan Gage

Alan David Gage

Alias

.

Offences

Nine child pornography possession charges regarding his extensive collection in Sumner, Christchurch in May 2007

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1949

Current Location

At large

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to six months in May 2006
Released August 2006

Background
NZ Herald story here
Southland Times story here

A 58-year-old Christchurch man found with hundreds of child sex images or video clips on his computer has been told to get ready for a jail term. Alan David Gage, a self-employed painting contractor, of suburban Sumner, admitted nine charges in Christchurch District Court today. His defence counsel Greg Trainor did not seek suppression of Gage's name. "The only application I have is for bail," he told Judge Stephen Erber.

The judge granted bail and ordered a probation report for a crown sentencing session on May 18. "You should order your affairs. The prospect of a prison term is virtually certain," Judge Erber told Gage. Gage pleaded guilty to nine charges relating to images or video clips found on his computer. All the charges stated he was in possession of objectionable computer images or movie clips with titles including "Teensfun", "Playnudecam", and "Alexandra – full penetration".

Police prosecutor Sergeant Mark Berryman told the court that the German police had been running Operation Smasher which targeted internet sites depicting objectionable material. They then identified the countries, internet service providers, and users of the material. They told the New Zealand police that at 12.55pm on July 23 last year, the computer at Gage's address had been noticed accessing objectionable movies.

Three weeks ago, a search warrant was executed at the address, and images and movies showing children in sexual poses or acts were found. The investigators found 236 movies and 51 movies that had been saved or downloaded to the hard drive. A cross-section of the files was used to bring the nine charges before the court. At first, Gage said he could not recall downloading the files, but then said he was aware there were possible images of under-age or pre-teen girls on the computer.

He urged a sentence of community work, but asked Judge Crosbie to allow home detention if a term of imprisonment was imposed and defer any jail sentence until Gage applied. Judge Crosbie said two of the movie clips depicted girls aged about eight and nine engaged in sexual intercourse and oral sex with older people. He noted that in this country, those acts would be termed rape.

He noted a large number of testimonials had been provided on Gage's behalf, referring to his offending as "completely out of character". An aggravating feature was Gage's admission that he'd seen an "intellectual challenge" in obtaining the material without paying for it. Offending had taken place over nine months -- a "not inconsiderable period", Judge Crosbie said. He convicted Gage and sentenced him to six months jail, granting him leave to apply for home detention. But he refused to defer the sentence while Gage made the application.

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Corrections and Additional Information
We endeavour to make this database as accurate as possible, but we are at the mercy of whatever information we can find in various online and offline archives. We rely on the public - that is, people like you - to fill in the gaps that we cannot. If you wish to submit additional information or a correction to this file CLICK HERE . Privacy: Trust policy is that all sources are treated as strictly confidential unless we are explicitly told otherwise. If you wish to see a file removed from this database certain conditions must be met by the offender set out HERE Note that this does NOT apply for those that are the primary offender in a murder, rape, or any sexual offending involving minors. We do not enter into correspondence regarding the guilt/innocence of offenders. Such correspondence is not responded to, especially if the offender concerned has a number of prior convictions

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