Paedo’s house attacked
pervert sentenced to 91/2 years in jail for online terror
I felt ashamed & scared as I told him where I had lived
VICTIM’S STATEMENT
DUBLIN CIRCUIT COURT
A MAN who possessed thousands of child porn images and coerced young girls to send him sexually graphic pictures was sentenced to nine-anda-half-years yesterday.
Sicko Matthew Horan, 26, used Skype, Snapchat, Instagram and anonymous instant messaging application Kik to send and receive perverted images.
Six of his identified victims were from Ireland and nine unknown users were from around the world.
The predator showed no emotion as Judge Martin Nolan passed sentence in Dublin’s Circuit Court.
He said Horan had a very unhealthy, insidious and debased sexual interest in children.
Judge Nolan added the crimes were all committed for the predator’s indulgence and pleasure and he had exploited children in a most horrible way.
And he said his actions would have long-term effects on the victims.
Judge Nolan told the court when handing down the sentence Horan “understood the nature, he understood the damage and yet he didn’t stop what he was doing”.
He also said “he exploited children in the worst possible way”. Judge Nolan backdated the sentence to June last year, when Horan went into custody.
He ordered a report from the Probation Service into what interventions and services the prison service could provide to reform Horan.
Judge Nolan added: “If there are such interventions, he has to partake of those meaningfully.
“It is important for society and him that he is given certain interventions that will change him.”
A victim impact statement was read to the court on behalf of one of the victims who was 10 when Horan exploited her.
She said she felt “ashamed and scared” over what happened and she worried he would come to her house and get her.
In the statement she said: “I felt scared because I told him where I had lived.”
Outside the court, Detective Superintendent Declan Daly said this case was a “timely reminder of the dangers that can occur on the web and the need for parents to be vigilant of children’s internet use”.
He added it was “exceptionally dangerous” for children to share images online and kids should never agree to meet any person on the internet.
Det Supt Daly said if images were shared already, gardai recommended that children should not share any more images, stop all communication and tell a parent or a appropriate adult.
He added: “They should preserve the evidence and not delete anything and they should report the matter to gardai.” Lawyers for Horan told the court that his father’s home in Clondalkin, West Dublin, was attacked on Monday night, with the front door and windows smashed.
A forensic examination of the pervert’s computer uncovered recorded Skype calls between him and two nine year-oldgirls, both individually and together.
The recordings included footage of these girls engaging in graphic sexual acts. Horan also engaged in sexually explicit text conversations with the victims, during which there would be an exchange of photos.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard he would use Kik to share child porn images and videos with unidentified users from around the world, most of whom claimed to be young teenagers.
He threatened to share nude images of an 11-year-old girl to her social media if she didn’t send him more graphic photos.
In the text exchange between them,
this little girl repeated that she would kill herself.
The court was told the brute then continued to coerce her to send more images.
Horan, of St John’s Crescent, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty to a count each of sexually exploiting two girls within the State on dates between April 1 and November 23, 2014.
He also admitted to two more counts of sexually exploiting a child and one count of distributing child porn on dates in 2015. Horan further pleaded guilty to possessing child porn at his address on July 11, 2015.
He pleaded guilty to three further counts of sexually exploiting female children through Snapchat and Instagram in the State on dates between May 21, 2015 and July 7, 2016.
The predator admitted possessing child porn on a Sony mobile phone at his home on July 7, 2016.
In a forensic investigation that took place over a year, expert gardai discovered thousands of images and videos of child porn. Some of these involved young babies.
He also engaged in graphic text exchanges with the child users in which he would describe violent sexual acts.
Horan, who wore a wine jumper and white shirt, was told the final two years of his sentence would be suspended under strict conditions including good behaviour while in prison.