Curiosity led to interest in child pornography court heard
A teenage boy who downloaded child pornography did so out of curiosity, Sligo Circuit Court was told.
Conor Moyles usually accessed the material late at night at home when he had drink taken, his sentencing hearing before Judge Francis Comerford was told.
Moyles, now 26, of Linnet Lane, Kevinsfort, Sligo admitted at a previous sitting of the Circuit Court to having eight images and 66 video files on a pc on January 24 th 2012. He also pleaded guilty to a second count committed on January 28th 2012 when four images were found on a laptop.
The accused was represented by Michael Bowman SC with Mr Keith O’Grady BL instructed by Mr Gerard McGovern, solicitor.
The offences came to light when the defendant’s mother Angela left a computer in for repairs and the man fixing it saw the downloaded files and informed Gardaí.
Detective Garda Pauline O’Neill said the computer was handed over to her on January 26 th 2012 and a warrant was obtained for the defendant’s home which was searched on the 28th when a laptop was seized. The computer and laptop were sent for analysis and the delay in having them examined was due to lack of resources at the specialised unit, said Det. Garda O’Neill.
The defendant was arrested in 2017 and he made full admissions. He was 19 at the time the offences came to light. He now lived in Dublin and was working until recently, losing his job as result of the case. He didn’t have any previous convictions and hadn’t come to Garda attention since.
Witness agreed with Mr Bowman that the defendant’s family were devastated and that he was accompanied to court by his parents who were standing by him. Mr Bowman pleaded that the defendant had been looking for adult porn and he was then drawn into “a darker place due to curiosity and boredom.”
Moyles began to search for pre-teen material and his led ultimately to viewing material of very young people. It was just curiosity and he was in no way attracted to young girls. He had downloaded the material late at night or early in the morning when he was drunk.
Witness agreed that the defendant didn’t pay to access the material nor did he distribute it.
Mr Bowman pointed out that since the offences came to light, Moyles had been targeted online and in person.
He also ended a personal relationship because of the situation.
Detective Garda Donagh Mannix from the Garda National Cyber Bureau, in evidence, said the eight images were of girls aged between 8 and 15 while
53 of the 66 videos were of girls aged between 4 and 12 engaged in sexual acts with adult men. Two of the videos showed acts of bestiality and these were the most extreme of the material found. Witness agreed the material was downloaded in 2008 and 2009 and some in 2012.
Mr Bowman pleaded that it was a situation where a relatively small quantity of grossly offensive material had been downloaded over a period of four years and it wasn’t a case of someone fixated with it. There was no forwarding, categorising or paying for it. Moyles was aged between 15 and 19 at the time.
“It was a morbid curiosity where he dipped in and out though the severity of the material cannot be overlooked,” said Mr Bowman. He added that the defendant had been looking at adult porn and he had “an itch which he scratches not very often.”
Mr Bowman pleaded that the case was not run of the mill and asked the court to take into consideration his age at the time, the time lapse since the offences occurred and the fact he had now been stigmatised in his community.
Sentencing the defendant last Thursday, Judge Comerford said the images fell into the category of moderate but the two videos were at the most serious end and had been held on the computer for over four years.
The images had been deliberately sought out and deliberately retained, he said. He noted the defendant had engaged in psychotherapy and a report placed the defendant at low risk of re-offending.
A psychological report stated the defendant did not meet the criteria of being a paedophile. He had lost his job and a ten year relationship had ended with his girlfriend. “His employment prospects will be blighted by his conduct for the balance of his life,” said the Judge.
He accepted that pornography no longer played a part of the defendant’s life and he hadn’t re-offended. The vast bulk of the images were downloaded when the defendant was aged be- tween 15 and 17 and this highlighted the dangers of the internet for teenagers.
Youth, he said, does not always go hand in hand with good sense. The Judge said he was satisfied he had turned away from what he deemed was the darkness of that time, that he had shown insight and remorse and there was no longer need for ongoing probation supervision or for the Gardaí to monitor him.
The psychological dependence on pornography from his teenage years no longer existed. Judge Comerford said he would deal with the matter by way of a fine which would be a greater punishment and burden than a suspended sentence. He was conscious the defendant wasn’t working and could have great difficulty in gathering the money.
Moyles was fined €3,500. The computers were ordered to be destroyed.