Now Matthew Harry Drummond, 35, is in prison, suffering what his defense lawyer said were the consequences of not only separation from his son but also damage to the reputation enhanced by belonging to a well-known farming family from Motueka.

Drummond’s repression ended at the sentencing this week after his identity had been kept secret since the crime three years ago, which was discovered in 2022.

He might have avoided prison but for the fact that, while awaiting sentencing, he used an online alias to try to obtain nude photos from a 16-year-old girl.

Although not in itself a crime due to her age, it showed that the rehabilitation Drummond had undergone had not achieved the intended results.

“It’s almost unbelievable when you’re faced with punishment,” said referee Tony Snell in Nelson District Court.

Defense barrister Michael Vesty said Drummond’s mainstay was adult porn, and as part of his addiction he had started watching child exploitation material.

The farm manager was sentenced to just under two and a half years in prison for what the Crown described as “suffering behaviour” that led to a total of 14 charges.

The first two charges, that Drummond knowingly provided an objectionable publication, occurred when, on two occasions in 2021, he shared the same 33-second video containing the most serious level of child exploitation material.

It was argued that the videos were only short but Judge Snell said the “most horrifying content” could be found in the shortest videos, as in this case.

“The reality is that it showed a grown man having sex with an 11- or 12-year-old woman and that’s a terrible video to share,” he said.

Drummond also admitted 11 charges of knowingly possessing child exploitation material and one charge of possessing an objectionable publication which showed “extensive, sexual abuse of children”, Judge Snell said.

Vesty said there was no summary of the material and the distribution of the video could be seen as less serious than other cases because Drummond had sent it peer-to-peer and not to a chat room, where it had the potential to be seen by many more people.

Judge Snell said regardless, once such material became a “cog in the distribution machine” it was unknown whether it could be seen by one person or hundreds at a time.

The Crown accepted that the material found was viewed and then deleted, meaning it was no longer available, but it had been cached, which is how it was found.

Drummond, who forwarded the material via his two different usernames Snapchatwas captured after authorities were alerted following a tip to the US-based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

The center serves as a resource for families, law enforcement and other government agencies to help locate missing children and prevent child sexual exploitation.

Under US law, providers of electronic services such as Snapchat must report all cases of child exploitation, the police fact sheet said.

According to the summary, Snapchat submitted two CyberTipline reports to NCMEC that identified Drummond as the user via his email address.

Police searched his home in May 2022 and found two phones, each containing a selection of graphic videos and images involving child abuse in all categories of seriousness.

A search of Drummond’s internet search history from March 2020 to May 2022 showed that he had looked up non-criminal pornographic material, but also a significant number of websites depicting rape, bestiality, gang rape, incest, kidnapping and child exploitation material.

The internet searches took place while Drummond was serving a sentence under house arrest in 2019 for indecent assault.

Judge Snell said it appeared he had become desensitized and was looking for stimulation through more graphic material.

He reinforced the message that child exploitation was not a victimless crime because it involved real children enduring suffering and trauma for the sexual gratification of the people who saw it.

The judge held that viewers of such material were as complicit in the abuse as those who did it.

“People viewing and downloading this material is fueling an insidiously harmful industry,” he said.

Drummond had initially been assessed as having a medium risk of reoffending, which was raised to a higher risk when his attempt to take the nude photos from the 16-year-old was revealed.

Judge Snell said it changed the way he viewed the pre-sentence report, written without knowing what Drummond had tried to do.

The vesty argued that there was scope for a reduced sentence through Drummond’s guilty plea.

Judge Snell said the admissions had not been made until earlier this year but an 18% discount was “probably warranted” on a starting point of four years in prison.

The Vesty also sought an adjustment for the likely effect of publication on Drummond’s son, who was an innocent victim of what had occurred.

Judge Snell gave a small discount, but said Drummond might want to reflect on his son and how many of the victims were the same age.

“It can hit home how these young people are being exploited,” he said.

Judge Snell reached a final sentence of two years and four and a half months in prison, with release to be determined by parole.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered public news, including court and local government, for Nelson Mail.