Man who downloaded child abuse material to his Google Drive will be sentenced later

A man who downloaded 78 videos containing child sexual abuse material to his Google Drive was detected after Google contacted gardaí, a court has been told.

Joao Silva Pinto (25) of Mabbot Lane, Dublin 1, will be sentenced later this year after he pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of possession of child pornography on a phone at the same address on June 18, 2022.

At the sentencing hearing today, Detective Garda Tracy O’Reilly told Simon Matthews BL, prosecuting, that Google made a referral to the online child exploitation unit in relation to material on an account in the defendant’s name. A mobile number associated with Silva Pinto was also used to upload a number of CGI images to Google.

Gardaí obtained a warrant in February 2022 for all details relating to the defendant and the account.

The defendant’s home was searched on June 18, during which gardaí seized his phone and a number of identification documents.

A total of 78 videos were found on his phone following analysis. 43 of these videos were classed as category one material, while the remaining 35 were category two.

784 CGI anime images, classed as category four material, were also retrieved from the Google drive.

Silva Pinto attended his local garda station voluntarily twice and was interviewed on two occasions.

He made admissions and said Google had blocked his account due to the content. He said he downloaded the material from a file-sharing website.

Silva Pinto told gardaí he had been a victim of child sexual abuse in Brazil, but the witness said this could not be verified by gardaí.

Det O’Reilly confirmed to Seamus Clarke SC, defending, that his client told gardaí he was abused by a neighbour and saw himself in the children.

She agreed that the offending took place during the pandemic and Silva Pinto told gardaí he acted out of curiosity.

She agreed that there was a “good chance” the defendant would be detected as he’d used his own email address and downloaded the material to a Google Drive, not a dark web site.

The garda confirmed there was no evidence that the defendant shared the images and he handed over his phone during the search.

The court heard Silva Pinto had worked for a contract cleaning company.

He has no previous convictions and has not come to garda attention since this incident. A number of testimonials were handed to the court on his behalf.

Mr Clarke said his client’s actions were “unsophisticated” and always going to come to light when Google made a referral to gardaí. His client came to Ireland at the age of 21 and has been living at his brother’s house.

Defence counsel told the court his client has been seeing a psychologist online and is anxious to return to Brazil to continue engaging with this therapy in person.

Mr Clarke asked the court for as much leniency as possible for his client.

Judge Martina Baxter said this was a “serious offence” and directed the Probation Service to prepare a report. She adjourned the case to July 18 for finalisation.