Man avoids jail for possession of child sex abuse images and videos

By Sonya McLean

A man who admitted to gardaí that he was involved in “chats” and “groups” about child abuse material has been given a 16-month suspended sentence.

Philip Yeboah (25) of Rochdale, Honey Park, Dun Laoghaire, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of child sex abuse images and videos on February 2, 2018.

He has no previous convictions and has not come to garda attention since.

Garda Brian O’Neill told Tony McGillicuddy BL, prosecuting, at a sentence hearing last July, that gardaí were alerted to the fact that three videos had been uploaded to a site on March 12, 2017, by a user who had the same email address, phone number and screen address as Yeboah.

Gardaí later secured the IP address and other trace information which led them to Yeboah’s home address.

It was searched and a number of devices were taken for analysis.

Gda O’Neill confirmed that 210 videos and 110 images of child abuse material were later discovered.

He said 80 of the videos would be considered explicit and involved children aged between seven and 15 years old, while the remainder were considered child exposure.

He said 45 of the images would be considered very graphic and of children of a similar age. The remainder were of child exposure.

Yeboah made various admissions and said he had been sent the images through two websites.

He said he was involved in various chats and groups through which links would be sent to him.

Gda O’Neill agreed with Fiona Murphy SC, defending, that her client was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum in 2014.

He accepted that he had never any trouble finding Yeboah to progress the investigation and he co-operated throughout garda questioning.

Ms Murphy said her client had given clear instructions that he is very embarrassed and ashamed and takes full responsibility for his actions.

She said he has a very complicated and difficult personal history and it is “pretty clear” that significant therapeutic help is needed, specifically in relation to “his cognitive abilities”.

Judge Melanie Greally acknowledged that the Probation Service had recommended that Yeboah continues to engage with them and adjourned the case to allow for that.

“Very young children are abused and exploited to produce this material,” Judge Greally said before adding that it was up to Yeboah if he co-operates or not.

Sentencing Yeboah today Judge Greally noted that he has since engaged so fully with the Probation Service that the report has “identified a limited residual role for the probation service in terms of his outstanding needs”.

Judge Greally accepted that he has not come to further garda attention and is “a young man of considerable vulnerability”.

“The offence is a serious one, by reason of the fact that there is a large volume of material,” the judge said before she added due to the positive steps Yeboah has taken and his particular vulnerability, a custodial sentence is not necessary.

Judge Greally imposed a sentence of 16 months which she suspended in full on strict conditions including that Yeboah engage with the Probation Service for those 16 months.