By By Tara Shaskey, Open Justice reporter of 
Seoras Martin-Smith met his victim through Discord, a messaging platform, in January 2022. Photo: 123RF / Elagin Sergei
A man who met a young overseas teen on social media sent her nudes of himself and encouraged her to do the same before launching a cruel campaign of manipulation when she cut contact with him.
Seoras Martin-Smith told the girl she would regret it, threatened to leak her photos and sent her messages calling her a "s*** and a w****" and that he would "cut her wrists".
But the now 26-year-old, whom the judge called out for "smirking" in the dock, claimed he was only trying to help the teen and that he was still "attached" to her.
On Wednesday, Martin-Smith appeared in the New Plymouth District Court for sentencing on representative charges of having indecent communications with a person under the age of 16 and possession of objectionable material.
The court heard the defendant was 23 when, in January 2022, he met the then 13-year-old through Discord, a messaging platform.
Over the following year, their communication moved to FaceTime, emails and other chat platforms.
Martin-Smith began sending the teen naked photos of himself and requested that she send naked photos of herself to him, which she did.
In 2023, the girl stopped contact with Martin-Smith, which caused him to become upset and abusive.
Seoras Martin-Smith was sentenced in the New Plymouth District Court. Photo: NZME
Martin-Smith threatened to cut the victim's wrists, to leak the images of her, and repeatedly called her derogatory names, such as b****.
In an email, he accused her of lying to him when she previously said she loved him.
He went on to tell her to "make him believe" that "she wants it to work", and he would delete the nude images of her.
"I swear to Jesus and on my mother's grave," he told her, adding that he and the teen were "a team".
Judge Gregory Hikaka described the messages as manipulative, sinister, cruel and aggressive before noting Martin-Smith was "smirking" as they were read aloud.
He shook his head from the dock and said "no" at the suggestion.
The judge said that by January 2024, the teen victim had had enough of the abuse and contacted the New Zealand Police from her home abroad to report Martin-Smith.
But Martin-Smith continued to message her until July, telling her he was disappointed, that she would "regret it forever", he hoped she would "live with guilt until she died" and reminded her that he still had the nude images of her.
A search of his home was conducted that month, and police seized six of his devices.
An examination of the devices found 52 images of child sexual abuse material, including animated images.
He went on to plead guilty to the charges, and a presentence report was prepared.
Martin-Smith told the report writer his messages had been taken out of context, and he was worried about the victim and had been trying to help her.
The report writer was concerned Martin-Smith still may wish to pursue contact with the victim, based on comments he had made, including that he was "still attached" to her and that she was now 16.
The Crown submitted that a community-based sentence was not appropriate given the concerning level of violence Martin-Smith exhibited towards the victim through social media, and highlighted his lack of insight, sense of entitlement and ego.
But defence argued he was a first offender, his risk assessment for reoffending was low, and that home detention was the least restrictive outcome available.
In sentencing Martin-Smith, Judge Hikaka considered the aggravating factors in the case, including the victim's vulnerability, her young age, and the prolonged and premeditated nature of the offending.
He weighed that against Martin-Smith's youth, rehabilitation potential and lack of previous convictions.
Judge Hikaka landed on an end sentence of 27 months' imprisonment, three months outside of the eligibility for a home detention sentence to be considered.
But he then, "by a very fine margin", reduced the end sentence to 24 months.
The judge converted the sentence to one of 12 months' home detention with six months of post-detention conditions.
Martin-Smith was also added to the child sex offenders register.
* This story was first published by The New Zealand Herald
