New Zealand man who tried to buy girl, 3, for sex gets just 3 years in prison

Aaron Joseph Hutton, known on the dark web as ‘Kiwipedo’, was caught by police offering US$9,500 in cash or in bitcoin for a child aged under 7

His intended victim was to be a 3-year-old girl, the court heard during his original sentencing hearing. ‘She was to become a sex slave’, a judge said

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Aaron Joseph Hutton was known on the dark web as “Kiwipedo”. Photo: The New Zealand Herald

Published: 2:32pm, 7 Dec 2022Updated: 2:49pm, 7 Dec 2022

A New Zealand man who tried to buy a three-year-old girl online for sex was resentenced on Wednesday to just over three years in prison.

Known on the dark web as “Kiwipedo”, Aaron Joseph Hutton was initially sentenced to five years in prison in January last year. But that term was overturned the following July after a High Court justice found the previous sentencing hearing was improperly conducted.

Hutton appeared for another sentencing on Wednesday before Judge David Sharp in the Auckland District Court after being convicted of possessing objectionable material and dealing with people under 18 for sex.

His lawyer had submitted that Hutton was remorseful, with a pre-sentence report showing that he had suffered protracted sexual abuse at the hands of an older cousin and he had substance abuse issues.

Auckland, New Zealand. Police traced the dark web user “Kiwipedo” to a workplace in the city in 2015. Photo: Shutterstock

But Judge Sharp said the charge of dealing with people under 18 for sex that amounted to attempting to procure an infant online was depraved and there were no mitigating features.