A man has been jailed after he pleaded guilty to inducing a child to enter into a pornographic act.
The man, who cannot be named by order of the court, signed pleas of guilty in respect of two charges of child exploitation and one charge of inducing a child to participate in the production of pornography.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Martin Nolan said that the man had made contact with persons who had identified themselves as being aged 13, 15, and 16 years. To these, he made “various suggestions of a sexual nature” and asked the 13-year-old victim to “send him photos”.
The offences date back to 2024, and the accused “admitted to his wrongdoing” and that it was “hard to know” what he had engaged in the offending.
“Everyone has their problems”, Judge Nolan said, noting that the court was not in a position to assess the harm done to the victims as they have not been identified, but that the “quite serious” wrongdoing had to be met with a custodial sentence.
The court took into consideration the signed pleas of guilty and the lack of relevant previous convictions before sentencing the accused, who sighed loudly on several occasions after learning that he was to be jailed, to two years on each count from today’s date to run concurrently.