Man (35) who filmed himself abusing infant boy is jailed for four years

Footage was then shared online

A man who filmed himself sexually abusing an infant boy and then shared the footage on social media has been jailed for four years.

At Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Tom O’Donnell lifted reporting restrictions to allow the identification of the defendant, Jamie Marshall (35).

Marshall, a car thief and joyrider with 133 previous convictions, admitted possessing, producing and distributing child abuse imagery; defilement of a child; and using communication technology to facilitate the sexual exploitation of a child, on or before December 30, 2020.

Judge O’Donnell ordered that the specifics of Marshall’s home address, where his parents continue to reside, not be reported.

Marshall’s barrister, senior counsel Brian McInerney, told the court his client’s elderly parents were concerned their address would be published.

The mother of the child told the court she wished to waive her right to anonymity. However, the court ordered that the child could not be identified.

Judge O’Donnell said Marshall was entitled to credit on his sentence for pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity, for fully co-operating with the investigation and for having being in custody awaiting sentence since May 2, 2023. He had not taken up bail.

However, the judge said he had to impose an immediate custodial sentence and he described Marshall’s behaviour as “appalling, vile, egregious and despicable”.

“It was depravity of the highest order with an infant child,” the judge added.

Marshall was facing a maximum life sentence for the defilement charge, a maximum sentence of five years for the possession charge and up to 14 years on each of the other three charges.

After sentence was imposed, the boy’s mother approached Marshall, telling him: “You are a dirty, ugly, smelly, horrible scumbag.”

Marshall made no reply. He signed a bond agreeing to keep the peace and not reoffend for a period of two years after his release.

Although he pleaded guilty to all of the charges, Marshall had denied in garda interviews that he had a sexual predilection for children. Marshall told gardaí the abuse happened because he was taking cocaine and when he took this drug he became “a creep”.

However, Mr McInerney told the court Marshall no longer blamed cocaine: “He must accept what he did, no one is to blame but himself and he is deeply ashamed of his behaviour.”

Marshall had filmed himself abusing the boy and uploaded the material to a social media platform under the pseudonym “Honda22Civic”.

When the material was uploaded, it quickly alerted the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, who in turn tipped off gardaí. Detectives tracked down Marshall and identified the infant in January 2021.

Marshall uploaded and shared 15 videos and two images of him abusing children, including the infant boy, as well as images and videos of a number of under-age girls that were shared with him by a third party whom Marshall did not identify.

Reading a victim-impact statement on behalf of her son, the woman told the court: “I never thought that something like this would come to my family, I never thought my son would be violated in such a way, it was such a shock to me, my family and friends.”

The woman said the abuse of her son had destroyed her mental health.

The woman said she could not forgive the defendant for what he had done.

She added: “I think about it every day. I would be more cautious about who I leave my son around because I can’t trust anybody after this.”

Speaking to reporters yesterday, the woman described the sentence as “an absolute joke”.

“I would have preferred if he got a longer sentence, because four years for such horrible acts, is an absolute joke, it was too nice [for] him,” she said. “I was hoping for at least 10 years.”

She said her son was now “thriving” with the support of his family circle.

The woman said she wanted to thank gardaí and the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article, call Childline on Freephone 1800 66 66 66 or the Rape Crisis Centre on Freephone 1800 77 88 88