escalating violence in our community Become a member of the Sensible Sentencing Trust

Mouseover links for full page descriptions

Offender Databases Benjamin Masters

Benjamin Masters

Alias

Benjamin (Ben) Fredricks

Offences

22 charges of distributing and possessing child pornography in Lyttleton in 2008

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born June 1977

Current Location

At large in Christchurch

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 22 months in May 2009
Released April 2010

Background
Christchurch Press story 29th May 2009
An online chat session with an undercover Australian federal policeman led to 22 months' jail on child pornography charges for a Christchurch man. Benjamin Masters, 31, of Lyttelton, had earlier pleaded guilty in Christchurch District Court to 22 charges of distributing and possessing objectionable publications. Judge Brian Callaghan today said home detention was inappropriate for this kind of offending.

Internal Affairs deputy secretary Keith Manch later said that during the chat session, Masters sent the policeman a video clip and more than 40 image files, all depicting the sexual abuse of children, including babies and toddlers. "During the conversation, Masters identified himself as Ben from Canterbury and described the sexual grooming and abuse of a young girl he was godfather to," Mr Manch said.

"Our police referred the case to the department after no evidence of sexual offending was found. An examination of Masters' computer revealed a large number of deleted objectionable files, including a significant number depicting the gross sexual abuse of babies and toddlers." Masters was the fifth person to be jailed for child pornography offences in the past two months.

Adelaide Advertiser story 30th May 2009
AN online chat session with an undercover Australian Federal Police officer has led to 22 months' jail on child pornography charges for a New Zealand man. Christchurch man Benjamin Masters, 31, had pleaded guilty in the Christchurch District Court to 22 charges of distributing and possessing objectionable publications. Judge Brian Callaghan yesterday said home detention was inappropriate.

Internal Affairs Department deputy secretary Keith Manch later said that during the chat session, Masters sent the AFP officer a video clip and more than 40 image files, all depicting the sexual abuse of children, including babies and toddlers. "An examination of Masters' computer revealed a large number of deleted objectionable files," he said.

---

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

Back to Top