Man with ‘unhealthy interest in children’ jailed for sexual assault of minor

This article contains references to sexual abuse involving a child. Reader discretion is advised.

By Eimear Dodd

A young man with an “unhealthy interest in children” who posed as a teenage girl online encouraged teenage boys to send him videos and sexually assaulted a four-year-old boy, a court has heard. 

The 21-year-old came forward from the District Court on a signed guilty plea to a charge of sexual assault on a date in the summer of 2022.

He further signed guilty pleas to five counts of possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and one count of possession of CSAM in the digital space of Snapchat on dates in August and December 2022 and May 2023.

He also signed guilty pleas to two counts of producing CSAM on dates in 2020 and 2022 and two counts of distributing CSAM on dates in 2022.

He has no previous convictions and has been in custody since his arrest in May 2024.  He can’t be named to protect the anonymity of his victims.

The court heard the man was aged between 16 and 18 at the time of his offending.

Imposing sentence, Judge Martin Nolan said the man had engaged in an “egregious breach of trust” in his offending against the young boy and had “behaved in a devious manner” in other offending.

Having considered the man’s background, the judge noted that while the court doesn’t have the power to change people, “hopefully punishment can change people,” adding that “the only function of this court is to sentence him justly.”

Judge Nolan said the court hopes the man can change and contribute to society in future, but “at the moment, he has a very unhealthy interest in children”, which “could render him unsafe in the presence of children”.

He also noted the man will be subject to the requirements of the sex offenders’ register and that the injured parties are aware of his “serious wrongdoing”, which “gives a certain level of protection”.

The judge imposed a six-year sentence, with the final 18 months suspended on strict conditions, including that the man place himself under the supervision of the Probation Services post-release.

Judge Nolan noted that if the man was older, the sentence would have been “substantially longer”, adding that signed guilty pleas are valuable because they save the parties “the trauma and the worry of a trial”.

An investigating garda gave evidence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that the defendant was known to the boy’s family.

While the then-four-year-old was visiting his home in the Leinster area, the man sexually assaulted him.

The boy told his parents, who made a complaint to the gardai.

In a victim impact statement, the young boy’s father said the man abused the trust placed in him and outlined the effect on his son and his family.

He said the boy had missed school in order to attend play therapy, garda interviews and other services.

His son has a “shy personality” and trust issues and finds it hard to talk to others. The child’s father said he feels the defendant targeted his son, thinking the boy wouldn’t confide in his parents.

He said his son placed a toy hammer in his bed in case the defendant returned. He said his son has questions, but they can’t explain the man’s actions.

The court also heard evidence that the man separately took a video of a young girl.

Gardai searched the man’s house, and he was found to be in possession of over 1,500 files of CSAM, known in law as child pornography. The material included images and videos and some of it was classified in the most serious category.

Following an analysis of his devices, gardai found the man had also posed as a teenage girl on Snapchat, where he communicated with around 10 boys aged between 12 and 15. The investigation was unable to identify all of these boys, but one is a resident in Ireland.

The defendant would ask for photos of the boys and send them photos of the girl he was posing as, along with images from adult pornography.

He also encouraged the boys to carry out certain acts, record them and send him the videos. He then recorded the material sent by these boys.

The court heard the man produced approximately 38 files of CSAM and also distributed CSAM files.

The investigating garda told Diana Stuart BL, prosecuting, that the Snapchat account was linked to the man through his email address.

He was arrested and interviewed in May 2024, but nothing of evidential value was obtained.

The investigating garda agreed with Michael Bowman SC, defending, that gardai were notified by the American authorities in April 2022, who had been contacted by Snapchat in late 2021 about the uploading of child sexual abuse material.

The garda said the man’s account on Snapchat only came to light when his devices were analysed.

It was further accepted that the man had engaged in ‘catfishing’ by presenting as a young girl online, then asking young boys to engage in certain acts.

Mr Bowman said his client carried out a “complex web of offending” and asked the court to take into account that the man was between 16 and 18 at the time.

He said the man is apologetic and acknowledges the harm done, but his remorse may ring hollow.

A probation report was provided to the court. Counsel said the man was himself a victim of sexual abuse as a child and told probation officers he attributes his “unhealthy interest in young boys” to what happened to him.

The man has some work history but lost his job when his offending came to light.

Mr Bowman said his client was socially isolated and retreated to the internet “as a source of companionship”.

Counsel said his client started to access pornography at an early age, which morphed into accessing CSAM and “curiosity became an obsession”.

Mr Bowman said his client is doing well in custody. The man has a history of drugs use, but is drug-free in custody

Counsel said his client has been assessed at medium to high risk of re-offending and has made enquiries about a treatment programme for sexual offending.

Mr Bowman asked the court to impose a sentence which included probation supervision as there was a need for a structure to support the man upon his release from custody.