12 Dec 2017

NZ police tip-off leads to childrens' rescue in Philippines

2:50 pm on 12 December 2017

Three children have been rescued from sexual exploitation in the Philippines after a tip-off from New Zealand police.

Close up of a police officer at an incident on a residential street. 6 July 2016.

Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

They began investigating after disturbing content was found on a New Zealand man's computer in September.

New Zealand police shared information with their counterparts in the Philippines.

They say an investigation found three children, aged 4,5 and 7, were being abused on demand, which was live streamed to subscribers internationally.

Detective Senior Sergeant John Michael said that type of crime was increasing.

"Your offender, who is often a western male, can sit in the safety of their own home, make contact with the organisers online and then direct the abuse of a child in another country.

"And they feel that it's perhaps a little bit safer than travelling in person to that country to offend against the child."

The children were rescued after a search warrant was executed in late November and the children's parents were arrested.

Mr Michael said the live streaming of sexual abuse was now an established crime trend.

"Offenders are often Western males who can sit in the safety of their own homes and make contact with the organizers online and direct the abuse of the child in another country. They think it's a bit safer than actually travelling to that country to carry out the abuse.

"It's a crime that is often driven by poverty and I think people rationalise it, they think because the western man is not there abusing their child it's somehow not so bad," Mr Michael said.

He said the New Zealand man who was caught with the content on his computer has been charged and is before the courts.

"In the past we have investigated others which we have suspected has been involved in this sort of activity, those investigations led to the police in the Ukraine rescuing a child and arresting her mother.

"The reality is people that are involved in this sort of offending think they are hidden but they're not there is a really well organised band of law enforcement internationally and within New Zealand that will catch them," Mr Michael said.

He said it was important for any member of the public who thought they saw something untoward, or something that did not stack up when travelling, to contact the police.