Judge Mary O’Dwyer said the man received multiple emails in January advising him his computer had been hacked.

“The hacker had obtained your personal credentials and also had referred to six AI-generated images that would constitute child exploitation material that were on your computer,” the judge said.

“They had arrived in your computer in a torrent which is a download of file sharing. It’s accepted that you didn’t request those or seek those and they were not elicited by you yourself.”

The hacker demanded $1500, threatening to release the images to the man’s contacts if he did not pay the money. He declined to pay.

“On the first of January you reported to the police that you had been hacked and the images and your personal credentials had been disseminated to personal contacts,” Judge O’Dwyer said.

He provided police access to all his devices and personal communications. No other objectionable material was found.

“You advised the police that you knew about the images some time before the hacker contacted you. You told police you had viewed them but you didn’t delete them, a decision you subsequently regretted.”

Defence lawyer Lucie Scott said her client was not sexually interested in children, was not engaged in any chatrooms and had not sought out the material.

She asked the judge to discharge him without conviction, saying the gravity of his offending was low and he would be unable to continue working in his chosen career with something like this on his record.

“Police have accepted that it’s likely [he] would have to disclose convictions and, in my submission, once this type of conviction is disclosed he would not even get to the point of trying to explain away the offending . . . at his age and stage to not be able to continue his career is of serious consequence.”

She also requested permanent name suppression, saying he would suffer extreme hardship and so would his daughter if his name were to be published.

She said the girl would be subject to speculation, and her relationship with her father would be impacted as she was old enough to read any articles about the offending.

“This has had an impact already in terms of his ability to have access and ongoing contact with her,” she said.

She also argued if the court was to allow a discharge without conviction, that publication of the man’s name would undermine that order, as it would still make it nearly impossible to obtain employment.

Judge O‘Dwyer agreed to grant name suppression.

She said a “substantial” psychologist report had not detected any sexual interest in children, and that the man had taken steps to rehabilitate himself and address the anxiety the charges had brought.

“You’re extremely ashamed of the circumstances you found yourself in,” she said.

She noted he had already lost his job after telling his employer about the charges, and believed convicting him would further hinder his prospects.

“A conviction of this nature would almost certainly operate as a complete bar to you achieving employment in the IT industry,” she said.

Judge O’Dwyer found the consequences of a conviction outweighed the gravity of the offending in this case and granted a discharge without conviction.

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.