Father caught with child abuse videos avoids prison
A FATHER of one who was caught in possession of hundreds of child abuse images and videos of children as young as three has avoided jail because he has since sought help.
Eoin Kennedy, 41, had 577 images and 31 videos showing children as young as three being abused.
His computer equipment – seized by gardaí after a tip by Interpol in 2010 – took seven years to be examined due to a lack of resources at the computer crime unit.
In that time Kennedy attended psychological services which Judge Melanie Greally said minimised the risk of him re-offending.
The court heard that since he was caught, Kennedy has become a father and is now in a stable and supportive relationship and living in the Czech Republic.
Gardaí went to Kennedy’s place of work in December 2010 when an Internet Protocol address at this company was linked by Interpol to the downloading of child pornography.
Kennedy was working there as the computer systems administrator and immediately owned up to having downloaded the files onto a laptop at work. He gave the investigators permission for a search of his home in Co. Offaly where files were found on two more laptops and two ‘home build’ computers.
Kennedy, formerly of Walsh Island, Tullamore, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of child pornography at a premises on Jamestown Road, Inchicore, Dublin on December 2, 2010.
Marc Murphy BL, defending, said that this case had being hanging over Kennedy for eight years.
Judge Greally said that Kennedy now recognised that the production of child pornography material was child abuse and those who consumed it as contributing to that.
She said Kennedy was remorseful and is now a father of one in a stable relationship and living in the Czech Republic.
The judge suspended a custodial sentence of two years for two years on condition he keep the peace for that period.
Kennedy has no previous convictions and has not come to any adverse Garda attention in the eight years since these offences, Judge Greally said. She said he had not sought to conceal the offending from his family and his father was in court to support him.