West Coast man jailed for grooming teens

WARNING: This story details child exploitation and may upset some readers.

A man manipulated teenage girls by offering money to send him intimate photos of themselves.

Cody Wilson then threatened one of them he would leak the pictures online if she didn’t comply with his wishes for more explicit images.

The offending by the 30-year-old West Coast welder, fitter and turner had left an indelible mark on the teens and their families, a court has heard.

One said in her victim impact statement read on her behalf that Wilson, who was living in Christchurch at the time, had “begged” her for pictures and offered to send her money.

She was then 13 and acutely embarrassed by what he had talked her into doing.

The mother of the other victim, then aged 15, said Wilson had manipulated her vulnerable daughter into thinking no one except him cared about her.

She said it impacted their entire family and she had been left with “overwhelming guilt” at not having been able to protect her daughter.

She said the consequences were profound and long-lasting but she was proud her daughter had been brave enough to go to the police so that ultimately, Wilson would be held accountable for his “disgusting actions”.

Indecent communication

Wilson has now gone to prison for five-and-a-half years on two separate sets of charges after sentencing in the Nelson District Court this week.

They included charges of grooming young people for sexual conduct, dealing in young people under 18 for sexual exploitation and indecent communication with a young person.

The others were a representative charge of possession of objectionable publications, described by a judge as the most extreme of its kind, two charges of distributing such material and a charge of failing to carry out obligations of a computer search.

Wilson failed to provide a pin number to a second phone he initially claimed wasn’t his during a police search.

Caught by detective posing as victim online

His offending, driven by “deeply tragic loneliness”, was revealed by a detective masquerading as one of the teen victims Wilson had been communicating with online.

While searching his electronic devices for evidence in relation to that, police discovered the cache of images and videos that led to the objectionable material charges.

The material was described by Judge Chris Macklin as “grave” and the most extreme of its kind.

Wilson was found with a considerable number of sexual images involving children and animals.

The victims in the material found in Wilson’s possession ranged in age from a 6-month-old baby to a 16-year-old.

Judge Macklin noted the likely lifelong impact of Wilson’s offending on the two teenage victims and acknowledged their bravery in coming forward.

He said possession of objectionable material also created victims “cruelly exploited in the most depraved ways imaginable”.

Connection via social media

The police summary of facts said at the time of the offending, the first victim, then aged 13 and who lived in the lower South Island, learned about Wilson from friends.

She later connected with him on Snapchat.

The second victim, who lived in the top of the South Island, knew of Wilson through a shared interest but did not know him personally.

In June 2024, Wilson asked the first victim to send him videos of herself. She supplied him with an image of herself semi-clothed.

In August, Wilson deposited $190 into her bank account.

Police said the payment was for ongoing self-produced images and videos of her in sexually explicit detail, which he instructed her on how to pose, all co-ordinated via social media messaging.

Occasionally, Wilson told her that if she didn’t comply, he would leak her images.

In February last year, Wilson contacted the second victim via several online social media platforms, including Snapchat.

Police said he purported to be concerned about her health and talked about their shared interests, then started sending her explicit photographs of himself.

Wilson then requested images of the victim’s body. She sent neutral, non-sexualised and non-recognisable images of herself, police said.

Wilson then offered her up to $1000 if she sent photographs of herself. He then sent her a shopping voucher, which she accepted before she stopped communicating with him.

She allowed a Wellington detective to take over her TikTok account and they posed as her and began communicating with Wilson.

He eventually admitted he would pay $1000 to have sex with the 15-year-old.

Devices seized

Wilson’s electronic devices were seized in June last year, which led to the discovery of the objectionable material, police said.

Wilson also held an account for an encrypted cloud-based digital file storage service.

Police were assisted by a senior investigator with the Department of Internal Affairs to access the account and found more than 1500 stored images or video files.

Among them were multiple Category 1A files, classified as the most extreme of their kind and showed young children engaged in sexual acts with adults and animals.

In total, 176 objectionable publications were found in the camera uploads folder within this account.

Stored in Wilson’s iPhone were 3838 videos containing nudity and further child sexual exploitation material.

Crown prosecutor Daniel Baxter said important aggravating features of the offending were Wilson’s “highly pre-meditated” level of engagement and that they involved the sexual exploitation of a 13-year-old girl.

Another aggravating feature was the nature of the material he possessed and distributed.

Defence lawyer Douglas Taffs described Wilson as a “lonely individual” who acknowledged he needed rehabilitation to “come to grips with this curse”.

Judge Macklin said in awarding a 10% sentencing discount for personal circumstances from an eight-and-a-half-year cumulative starting point on both sets of charges, that Wilson was a “deeply troubled lonely man” who had now been called to answer “very serious offending”.

Wilson was also awarded the maximum 25% discount for his early guilty pleas and was now a registered child sex offender.

Judge Macklin said the length of Wilson’s prison term would likely factor in time already spent in custody since August last year.

CONCERNED ABOUT SEXUALLY HARMFUL THOUGHTS OR BEHAVIOUR

Where to get help:
Are you worried about what you are watching? Are you experiencing sexual thoughts that involve harm towards others? Are you concerned about someone else's or your own online behaviour? Contact the services below for safe, confidential support:
• Stop (South Island): Call 03 353 0257 or email info@stop.org.nz
• WellStop (Lower North Island): Call 04 566 4745 or email info@wellstop.org.nz
• Safe Network (Northern North Island): Call 09 377 9898 or email info@safenetwork.org.nz

SEXUAL HARM

Where to get help:
If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:
• Call 0800 044 334
• Text 4334
• Email support@safetotalk.nz
• For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nz
Alternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list.
If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault.