Melissa Nightingale: NZ Herald reporter on Jevon McSkimming being given nine months home detention

Jevon McSkimming received several discounts at sentencing in Wellington District Court today. 

The disgraced former Deputy Police Commissioner has been given nine months home detention for possessing questionable material.  

Judge Tim Black began with a starting point of three years prison - with reductions for a guilty plea, remorse, and significant rehabilitation efforts.

NZ Herald reporter Melissa Nightingale says that brought the potential sentence down to 18 months in prison.

"Once a sentence drops to about two years prison or below, it's then available to potentially be switched over to home detention - which he's chosen to do in this case." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So the mixed skimming sentence nine months home detention. He's
already pleaded guilty as you knowed to possessing objectionable material.
This includes best reality and child sex abuse images. Melissa
Nightingale is with the Herald and Wellington was in court today.
Melissa good evening, Hi, Ryan. How did the judge explain
that a lot of people are upset with the length

(00:20):
of that sentence? How did the judge explain the length
and the fact that he gets to serve it at home.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, so the judge adopted a starting point of three
years in prison. From there, he's given a bunch of discounts,
the biggest one being a twenty five percent discount for
an early guilty plea. We then had discounts for previous
good character, remorse and significant rehabilitative efforts such as twenty

(00:46):
five sessions with a faith based therapist, engagement with the
psychologist who specializes in sex offenders, things like that. So,
with all of those discounts combined, that brought it down
to a sentence of eighteen months in prison. Once the
sentence drops below, or drops to about two years prison

(01:07):
all below, it's then available to potentially be switched over
to home detention, which he's chosen to do in this case.
Some of the factors were that, given that Mixed Skimming
was a well known police officer, that prison would put
him make him a prime target for extreme violence. So
he's chosen to commute this to home detention. And when

(01:30):
they do that, they have what would have been the
prison sentence because that factors in when someone would have
become available for parole. So that's gone from eighteen months
prison down to nine months home detention with six months
post release conditions.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Goodness may more discounts than a Brisco's sale. What was
he like in court? What was his demeanor like in court? Melissa?

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Much like his previous appearances, he was quite. He didn't
show much emotion, fairly bland. He sat in the dock
with his arms crossed and his head sort of cocked
it aside for much of the hearing. When the judge
began to explain his sentence, he had mixed gimmings. Stand up.
He stood there facing the judge, hands clasped in front

(02:14):
of him, fidgeting with his thumbs. But he was really
He didn't show a lot of emotion, and this sentence
follows a sentencing indication. He already knew he wasn't going
to jail, so it wouldn't have come as a surprise
to him.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
What about the timing here, So we initially thought that
there was a timeline about when he had looked at
this stuff, but that's changed a little bit. What do
we know? What do we learn today?

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Well, his charges date back for about five years, but
it does say in the police summary of facts that
that is just as far back as the online records go,
so that was as far back as they could pin
him on it. But he has said to a pre
sentence report writer that he first began seeking out objectionable
material in twenty fifteen, so we know he's been trying

(03:00):
to look for the stuff for about a decade, or
at least that's what he's told us.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
Melissa appreciate that update.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Melissa Nightingale, who's with The Herald in Wellington and was
in court to date. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive,
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