Man is jailed for trying to meet ‘girl’ for sex who was a fake ‘bot’
A DUBLIN man has been jailed for trying to meet and have sex with a girl he believed to be 13, who turned out to be a ‘bot’ invented by a group trying to catch child groomers.
Shane Corrigan, 53, had been chatting to a fictional 13-yearold decoy in an account set up by a group who try to catch people grooming children.
The group, called the Child Online Safety Team, create fake profiles pretending to be underage children. Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that ‘like fishing lures, if people come along and bite and begin to engage in conversation, that’s when the profile becomes active’.
Pictures used in the accounts are provided by adults, who consent to their childhood photographs being used. The group contacted gardaí with information that Corrigan had been talking to a decoy, 13year-old ‘Melissa’, between December 24 and 28 of 2018.
In the messages, Corrigan asked ‘Melissa’ explicit questions and to engage in explicit acts. ‘Melissa’ informed him at several stages that she was 13.
He said he would meet her so they could have ‘sexy fun’ and asked her: ‘If we found a safe place to meet, would you have sex with me?’ before proposing that they meet at a hotel.
Corrigan asked ‘Melissa’ to bring her friends and six-yearold cousin with her to the hotel. When ‘Melissa’ asked if he wanted to have sex with the six-year-old, he said yes.
Gardaí were alerted and obtained a search warrant for Corrigan’s house on December 29, 2018. They secured electronic media belonging to Corrigan. Analysis showed no evidence of child pornography.
Corrigan was arrested on September 2, 2022. In interview, he identified his profile as being in contact with ‘Melissa’ and agreed the conversation was inappropriate and sexual. During the interview, Corrigan expressed regret and apologised. He told gardaí he suffered from an intellectual disability and said he was ‘something of a loner’.
Barrister James Dwyer, defending, said his client lost his job as a result of the investigation but has an ‘extraordinarily supportive family’. Mr Dwyer said his client suffered from a mild intellectual disability and fell into the category of a vulnerable adult’. He said culpability was ‘lower than it would be with a more devious, manipulative adult’.
Corrigan, of Newton Court, Belcamp Lane, Coolock, pleaded guilty to using information technology to facilitate the sexual exploitation of a child over four days around Christmas 2018. Yesterday Judge Martin Nolan sentenced Corrigan to three years in prison with the final 20 months suspended, adding he didn’t think Corrigan was ‘a danger to society’.
‘Something of a loner’