Man, 32, sent naked pictures to young girls on Snapchat
Beast favoured video involving ‘nine-year-old’
A 32-year-old man repeatedly sent naked photos of himself to young girls on Snapchat, a court heard yesterday.
David Byrne also engaged in conversations online with other people who had a similar interest in child abuse images.
And he boasted he had seen a video involving a child aged just nine, the court was told.
Byrne asked for images and videos of children up to 14 years of age but said he preferred images of children aged six or seven.
Garda Philip Munds told Judge Martin Nolan there were at least 11 incidences of Byrne interacting directly with underage girls, sending images of himself and requesting photographs of them.
Gda Munds said that conversations, printed out following technical examinations of many of Byrne’s devices, outlined discussions in which the paedophile described the best video he had seen as involving a child who was about nine years old.
Byrne told others that he was ‘doing stuff with eightand nine-years-old on Snapchat’, but said that he couldn’t record the interactions.
And he asked the others for images of children who were under 12 years old.
Byrne pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession and production of child abuse images at his home on dates between October 11, 2016 and January 11, 2017.
He has previous convictions for drink driving and public order offences.
He was yesterday jailed for two years for production and distribution of child abuse images.
Defence counsel, Lorcan Staines SC, made an application that his client’s address would not be published in any reporting of the case, as he was concerned there could be consequences.
Judge Nolan initially granted the order prohibiting the publication of Byrne’s address, but later noted this would be impractical as ‘every David Byrne in the city would be suspect’.
He ordered that a photograph of Byrne be printed with the story in order to distinguish him in the absence of the publication of his address.
Judge Nolan noted the seriousness of the offences and said Byrne’s interactions with third parties and children were very serious.
He took into account the mitigating factors including his guilty plea, co-operation, good work history and the contents of psychiatric and other reports handed into court.
Judge Nolan also noted Byrne had difficulties in his background and problems he was doing his best to address.
He noted that in the case of a count of possession of this material and in the absence of aggravating factors, a noncustodial sentence would be open to the court, but said the facts of the second count involving distribution brought the case into a much more serious area.
He imposed concurrent sentences totalling four years and suspended the final two years on strict conditions.
Noted seriousness of the offences