By Michael Morrah
3 News can now reveal the identity of the first man in New Zealand to be convicted of organising a child sex tour to South East Asia.
He is David Robin Wales, a 48-year-old hotel manager who was caught in a police sting two years ago, and has a history of offending in Australia.
Wales was a front man for the Whanganui Brass Band but privately he had other interests he did not want exposed.
“He comes across as quite an unassuming man – no one would look at him and think ‘I need to fear for my children or my young boys’,” says Denise Ritchie, founder of Stop Demand.
Wales planned to have sex with young boys and make a business out of it in Thailand.
He set up a website to attract business but his first client was an undercover police officer wearing a wire.
Wales was arrested in 2010 in an operation dubbed “Monndance” and in February this year he was jailed for three years - convicted of organising a child sex tour.
Wales was born in New Zealand but spent much of his life in Melbourne where in 1996 he was convicted on 11 charges which related to sexually assaulting boys. Police in Australia described him as an “aggressive paedophile” who actively recruited boys under the care of the state and gave them presents and trips to amusement parks in exchange for sex.
Until now, the identity of David Wales has been suppressed - because he was facing separate charges of possessing objectionable publications.
But 3 News has learned he has pleaded guilty and suppression has been lifted.
Denise Ritchie campaigned for the law change that those who travel overseas for underage sex can be prosecuted here.
She says “you can expect to be caught, convicted and named.”
3 News