For a decade, a former Wellington art gallery owner, Aaron Paul Laurence, 38, committed depraved sex acts on at-risk children, uploading his abuse online to a worldwide audience.

The police summary of facts said he sexually abused eight victims, electronically recording his exploits.

“The defendant has not only sexually offended against his [eight] victims, but by photographing, filming and distributing pictures of the abuse, the victims are victimised repeatedly when their images turn up on the internet.”

Laurence targeted vulnerable boys from troubled homes, in one case sexually abusing his victim after forcing him to watch pornography and giving him cigarettes and cannabis that caused the boy to become intoxicated.

The Dominion Post published the colour photo of the perpetrator of these crimes on p. A15 today using a photo caption headline “Depraved.” . During his appearance in Lower Hutt District Court yesterday, Laurence opposed The Dominion Post’s application to photograph him. [Read more…]