A Dublin man who was found in possession of “gross” images depicting the sexual abuse of children as young as five years has been jailed for 6 months.
Michael Kearns (58) of Hartstown, Clonsilla Dublin 15 pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of child pornography.
The Central Criminal Court heard that the father of two, had downloaded 240 images and 164 movie files of the offending material.
Prosecuting counsel, Oisin Clarke BL, told the court that 207 of the images showed girls and boys between the ages of 5 and 15 years engaged in sexual activity, such as oral, masturbation, as well as vaginal and anal penetration.
33 of the images showed girls and boys of the same age showing their genitals to camera, the court heard.
Of the 164 movie files, which were located on two devices, 157 showed children between the ages of 5 and 15 years engaged in similar sexual activity to the images including oral, vaginal, and anal penetration as well as masturbation.
Detective Garda Zora Smith gave evidence of how an alert was received by an international monitoring body that an IP address was using Bittorrent to download child pornography.
An Garda Síochána were able to track down the IP address to the accused which was attached to the Virgin Media account of himself and another who was not involved in the offending.
After a warrant was obtained from the District Court, the home of the accused was searched with the court hearing that Kearns made admission in respect of the material upon the Gardaí’s arrival.
The material was reviewed by a Detective Sergeant Dogherty.
The court heard that the accused started watching pornography after the death of his brother in 2017, and that this had led him to become “addicted” to all forms of pornography.
Cancer treatment had affected his “sexual function”, which also made him “curious” about pornography, his defending counsel John Fitzgerald told the court.
Fitzgerald said his client was “very cooperative” and had shown “considerable remorse and shame” for his actions which were “completely at odds with own character.”
Kearns is also aware of the effect his actions have had on his wife and son, he said.
In a letter to the court, his wife said that the accused has a “tendency to bottle things up”, with Judge Pauline Codd remarking that he had turned to pornography when he should have sought counselling after his brother’s death and his own cancer diagnosis.
Setting a headline sentence of 4 years in respect of the “gross” images which displayed “very young children” with a “very significant level of depravity”, she reduced the sentence on mitigation to 2 years.
Noting that his family attest to his being “a person of good character” and a “kind and loving father”, she suspended the final 18 months of the two years on condition of good behaviour.
Judge Codd noted that the material involved was an “affront to normal moral standards” and that children need to be “protected by the courts” as they are “the most vulnerable persons in our society”.
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