Suspended sentence for man caught with child abuse material

This article contains references to child sexual abuse. Some readers may find the contents of this article upsetting. Reader discretion is advised.

By Eimear Dodd

A “bored, lonely and isolated” man living a “somewhat reclusive life” who had almost 300 images and videos of child abuse material has been handed a suspended two-year prison sentence.

Ramon Terrobias (62) told gardai in interview that another member of a Facebook group he was part of forwarded him this material.

He said he did not know initially that it was child sexual abuse material. He also told gardai that he did not delete the material and instead saved it, saying he wanted to watch it later to see who was victimising children.

Terrobias of Hampton Wood, St Margaret’s Road, Finglas, Dublin 11, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), known in law as child pornography, on March 13, 2021.

Detective Garda Adrian Reilly told Patrick Jackson BL, prosecuting, that gardai carried out a search of Terrobias’s home on that date.

Gardai knocked on his door and were invited into the house. Terrobias made some admissions during the search and pointed to certain devices, which were seized and later analysed.

In total, 296 files of CSAM were found including 144 images and 152 videos. Two of the devices – a USB stick and a hard drive – contained one instance of CSAM, the court was told.

Two DVDs were also seized, which had covers which appeared to be adult pornography, but when viewed contained CSAM.

When interviewed, Terrobias answered all questions. He has no previous convictions and has not come to recent garda attention.

Det Gda Reilly agreed during cross-examination that there was no evidence of distribution of the material or of offending before or after this incident. He also said Terrobias’ explanation of how he came to possess the material is plausible.

He also agreed that Terrobias was very co-operative with the investigation and is somewhat vulnerable and isolated.

Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, outlined that his client moved to Ireland from the Philippines over 20 years ago and had a difficult upbringing.

His client has some work history, but has not worked outside the home since moving to Ireland.

Terrobias “effectively lives as a hermit” and is socially isolated, counsel said.

Mr O’Higgins said his client started looking adult pornography in 2013 and was “bored, lonely and isolated” at the time of his offending.

Terrobias was sent the file by an anonymous user of the same Facebook group and it is a “matter of huge regret” that he did not delete it, counsel said. He added that his client said this was due to boredom and an issue with hoarding.

Counsel said his client was “not attracted or stimulated” by the images and is regretful and remorseful for his actions.

His client has not watched pornography since then and while his offending has caused issues within his family, his wife remains supportive.

Mr O’Higgins said his client is assessed at low risk of re-offending and asked the court to consider imposing a non-custodial sentence. A psychological report was also provided to the court.

Judge Martin Nolan noted there were a “good number” of images and videos of CSAM found.

He said the defendant lives a “very introverted and reclusive life”, adding that it is “easily understandable” that Terrobias’s offending had caused difficulty within his family.

The judge said that a precedent set by the Court of Appeal in these types of cases must be followed, which indicates that a non-custodial sentence should be considered in the absence of aggravating features such as distribution, previous similar convictions and a “very large number” of images.

The judge said there are no aggravating features of that kind in this case and in light of the mitigation and Terrobias’ personal circumstances, he imposed a two-year sentence, suspended in full on strict conditions.