VILE CHILD PREDATOR CAUGHT IN CANADIAN SEX STING

■ Restaurateur tried to sexually exploit a 13-year-old on Snapchat ■ Gardai found child abuse images on phone in raid on his Cork home

A RESTAURATEUR convicted of attempting to sexually exploit a child and possession of child abuse images has bizarrely claimed he’ll track the undercover cops who exposed him when he gets out of jail.

Father-of-two Mehmet Umit Pala (62) of Maiville Terrace, Turner’s Cross, Cork, claimed he wasn’t a paedophile when the Sunday World confronted him this week, but then went on to disturbingly say that when girls wear tight clothing in public, “you can see the p***y in the street”.

Pala posed as a 19-year-old male as he chatted with dozens of children online, leading to police in Canada being alerted to his nefarious activities.

An undercover Canadian officer then posed as a 13-year-old girl and spoke to Pala on Snapchat. The “girl” repeated three times that she was 13 but Pala replied: “I don’t mind age” and offered to send a picture of his penis before asking to see picture of her.

When gardai later seized his phone, they found child sex abuse imagery on it. He has been told he will be receiving a custodial sentence when he is sentenced at Cork Circuit Court next month.

DANGERS

When the Sunday World confronted vile Pala at his home this week, he bizarrely told us:

He is going to travel to Canada after he is released from prison to confront the undercover cop who exposed him;

He has warned a 13-year-old relative of the dangers of predatory men posing as younger people on Snapchat;

He doesn’t have a sexual interest in children but was inundated with requests from them to see his penis, and,

Gardai should go after drug dealers instead of people like him.

Astonishingly, twisted Pala also made a vulgar reference to being able to see the genitals of girls who wear tight clothing in public, before claiming he doesn’t stare at them because he has too many things on his mind.

“In the street, you see the tight trousers on the girls. When it’s touching, you can see the p***y in the street. I don’t even look. I am thinking too many things. I’m thinking of my restaurant; I’m thinking of my staff and the bills.”

He also told the Sunday World that he would chat to children on Snapchat and claimed they were always asking him to see his penis – but admitted he deleted the messages before gardai seized his phone.

“I tell you something, I have too many messages [saying] ‘can I see your d**k?’ What can I say, how old are you?

“I said listen I am so busy because I have two restaurants but they say I want to see your d**k. I said Jesus Christ. Some I deleted to be honest. I did.”

A sexualised conversation Pala had on social media with a young school kid alerted Canadian police to his activities before they set up a sting operation with the undercover officer posing as a child. Gardai then raided Pala’s home and seized his phone where they discovered child abuse imagery.

Pala admitted to gardai under questioning that he had been speaking to about 50 to 60 children through social media.

He denied to the Sunday World that he was a danger to children and brazenly said he has warned a 13-year-old relative of the dangers of predators online.

“I look to her on her mobile and I explain the danger. I said, look if you have those things [social media], sometimes I check the mobile who is talking to her. I search, I’m checking. I’m not stupid, you know what I mean?”

Asked if he was worried about predatory adults contacting his relative, he said: “It can happen, it does happen.”

He then said if he found a man doing that to one of his relatives, he would kill them.

“If they do that and the guy came, I would shoot him here. You get crazy.”

When we put it to him that he was a predatory adult contacting children, he tried to deny that was the case and gave bizarre explanation for why he was offering to send pictures of his penis to what he thought was a 13-year-old.

“I said I don’t mind the age but I want to see to her exactly what [age] she is. I didn’t see.

“I didn’t send any pictures. If she was 13 years old, I’d get her to stop. If they are in Canada, why didn’t they tell me they’re Canadian police? I wanted to know exactly from her if she is 13 or 23 or maybe she is a man, maybe gay. I’m not looking for young girls. I didn’t know if she was young or old.”

“She sent me a text saying ‘hi’, I said ‘hi how are you,’ very friendly, those things.

“OK, I said I am 19 years old, I wanted to see exactly. She said ‘can I see you’. If I see she is 13 years old, I say OK. I’m sorry, stop. I wanted to see her and after that, I’d stop. I didn’t see her picture. She didn’t send it to me.”

VIDEOS

He admitted his conversations with the person, who said they were 13 three times, were sexual.

“OK, I was talking sexual things. I said maybe she can open the camera.”

He claimed if he saw she was 13, he would stop the conversation – but when our reporter asked him why he would be having a sexual conversation in the first place with someone who said they were that age, he had no explanation.

Despite pleading guilty to possession of child abuse imagery, delusional Pala also claimed he wasn’t looking at it.

“I didn’t look at pictures like that or videos. I didn’t know nothing about downloading child pornography.”

He then said he knows he will go to jail but blamed the police for ruining his life and said he wants to track down the undercover cop who exposed him in Canada.

“I go to jail now, what can I do. They destroyed my life. If I go to jail now what can I do?

CUSTOMERS

“When I come out I’ll go to Canada. I go myself, I go to Canada and I can find the police [undercover] and say ‘what is going on?’”

Asked what he planned to do if he found the undercover officer, he bizarrely said: “I can report him in Canada. I can find a good solicitor in Turkey and I want to sue him of course.”

Pala owned two restaurants in Cork — an Italian and a Turkish restaurant on North Main Street — but said he closed them down three weeks ago ahead of his impending jail sentence. He has put his kitchen equipment in storage and said he plans to open a new restaurant in Cork when he is released from prison.

He claims his customers stood by him after his arrest and he doesn’t feel his convictions will put people off visiting his restaurant when he gets out.

“The people came, they don’t believe I am guilty. They talk to me. Customers came to me in my restaurant and they kept coming [after he appeared in court].”

When our reporter put it to him again that pleaded guilty, Pala said: “I said: ‘what can you do, OK I am guilty’.

“Say I am guilty, go to jail come back out and be free.

“My solicitor said if you don’t accept and say ‘not guilty’ you can get longer for the jail, so better to accept.”

Asked what his family thought when gardai arrested him, he said: “They were in shock. I said to my wife ‘I didn’t send anything’. She believed me.

“We have lived for 15 years together. She came with me the last time in court.”

Pala says gardai should be concentrating on catching drug dealers rather than people like him.

“I go to Dublin and I saw 14 or 15 year-old child using heroin. Where is the concern for those?”

TROUBLE

He also bizarrely claimed he doesn’t pick up girls in his car.

“Sometimes I go to Waterford because I want to buy gas cooker. There is a place.

“Sometimes I see in the street a girl and they [try and get me to] stop. I never stop because I don’t want trouble.

“I don’t take any women or girl into my car. It can be happen [that they say] ‘oh he attacked me’ and how can I prove after that I didn’t attack her?

Pala will be sentenced at Cork Circuit Court on May 3.

‘When I come out I’ll go to Canada and find the police. I can report him... I want to sue him of course ’