GARDA’S ‘92 CHILD SEX IMAGES’
Court told explicit videos and pics of abuse found on laptop
VIDEOS on a laptop seized from the home of a garda allegedly showed children being sexually abused, a court has heard.
Joseph O’connor, 58, from West Dublin, pleaded not guilty to five counts of possessing child pornography.
The city’s Circuit Criminal Court was told yesterday how 92 images of youngsters being assaulted were found.
It is claimed the explicit movies and photos were uncovered using specialised software.
DUBLIN COURT YESTERDAY
MORE than 90 child sex abuse images were allegedly found on a garda’s laptop, a court has heard.
It was claimed movies and pictures of youngsters being assaulted were detected on Joseph O’connor’s computer by officers using specialised software. Garda Janette Walsh said she found 92 images of explicit sex that involved a victim under 17.
O’connor, 58, from West Dublin, pleaded not guilty to five counts of possessing child pornography at his home.
The jury previously heard gardai seized a Dell laptop during a search of the defendant’s home on August 2, 2011.
Yesterday, Garda Walsh told prosecution lawyer Alice Fawsitt she found files alleged to be child abuse images on the hard drive. Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told another 136 images of child exposure were also discovered.
FOLDER
Garda Walsh said two of these items were located in a folder labelled “Spanked Boys” and the other files were copies of these images.
The officer added there were 85 movie folders showing children under the age of 17 engaged in sexual acts with other males.
The court heard 43 film files were found in the recycle bin section of the laptop and 15 of these were deemed to be young boys being subjected to a sexual act.
Garda Walsh said a search of the computer’s internet history showed a number of adult pornography sites were visited and these had references to images and videos of teenage boys.
She added she found pictures of the accused and a photograph of his Garda ID card on the laptop as well as a Skype account under the name JP1DUB with the full name as Joe.
Garda Walsh said the profile image on that account was of the defendant.
The trial continues before Judge Elma Sheahan.
There were 43 film files found in the recycle bin section of the laptop GARDA JANETTE WALSH