Police acknowledge the recent sentencing of Oliver Kiesanowski, who was convicted last month in the Christchurch District Court on charges relating to sextortion against 8 identified, and 9 unidentified victims. Police believe there could be more victims who have not come forward and encourage any who have not contacted Police to make a report.
Mr Kiesanowski was found guilty on charges which relate to activity where he posed online as a woman named Rebecca, and connected with several young male victims in the Christchurch area over the period 2017 to 2023.
He obtained explicit images from those victims and used them to blackmail them to force them to send further explicit images.
The offender was sentenced to five years imprisonment and has been placed on the child sex offenders' register.
Acting Detective Sergeant Michael Hawke of Canterbury CIB says he is pleased to see justice done for these victims.
"This offender subjected his victims to protracted periods of living with stress and fear that their online activity would be revealed to their friends and family, not to mention routinely forcing them to create explicit material they did not want to.
"We hope that if there is anyone who was not identified through our investigation who has been out there living in fear, that they can now feel safe in the knowledge that this offender will be behind bars for years to come."
Acting Detective Sergeant Hawke says anyone who wants to disclose offending of this nature to Police can be assured they will be heard and treated with respect.
"We know that unfortunately some of these victims don't want to talk about what has happened to them as they are embarrassed or ashamed about getting drawn in.
"But we want you to know - we know how insidious this type of offending is and how easily victims can become trapped.
"Anyone who wants to make a report to us about this kind of offending will be treated with dignity."
HOW TO SPOT THIS TYPE OF OFFENDING:
- Meeting on one app, then being encouraged to continue a conversation on a different platform could be an indicator.
- Inconsistencies with a profile or language, and there might be signs that English is a second language.
- Introduction of sexualised conversations.
- The other person may say that their webcam or microphone not working for video calls/chats, so they could be avoiding giving their true identity.
ADVICE FOR VICTIMS:
- Avoid sending any more images or videos - even if they are threatening you.
- Remember - once you have complied with their demands there is nothing preventing them targeting you again.
- Save all the online chat, immediately take screenshots. This is important for making a report to the police, we need all the evidence that you can gather.
- Block the profile.
- Report the content to the platform (e.g. Facebook, Snapchat, PornHub) it is on and request the content is removed
- Make a report to Police (via 105) or Netsafe to find out what other options are available to you.
