A Westmeath man who sent sexualised messages to an undercover PSNI operative posing as a 13-year-old girl has been handed a four-year suspended sentence.
Former Office of Public Works (OPW) employee Kevin Smyth (58), of Dublin Road, Castlepollard, had pleaded guilty at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court to charges under the 2017 Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act on dates in 2021.
Finalising the case, Judge Keenan Johnson said the accused had been motivated by an unhealthy preoccupation with deviant sexual acts and the offences involved a grooming type of activity.
A report from psychologist Catherine Norton stated that Smyth was at a low risk of reoffending if he continued specialist counselling. Smyth had also said he had been abused at a young age, and the perpetrator died before facing trial, which had an impact on him.
The first charge stated that on July 15th, he attempted to intentionally cause a child to look at an image of himself engaging in sexual activity, for sexual gratification, or corrupting a child.
He also admitted attempting to use information and communication technology applications, Skype and WhatsApp, to facilitate child sexual exploitation on dates between June and July.
Smyth, who worked in river cleaning, also pleaded guilty to attempting to invite a child to sexual touching.
His online pornography addiction escalated into an interest in child abuse material and led to Smyth seeking out what he believed was a 13-year-old girl.
The pre-sentence report expressed concern that the man minimised his behaviour because it did not occur “in real life”.
The judge rejected that and held that Smyth was equally culpable because he had no idea that it was not a real child.
However, he noted there was no evidence of any prior crimes and that the offences occurred over a short period.
It emerged that Smyth suffered significant personal consequences since the offending came to light, including losing his OPW job, depression and isolation from his family.
A character reference stated that Smyth had previously been involved in sports and the Tidy Towns initiative.
The judge imposed concurrent four-year prison sentences on three charges, taking two further offences into consideration. The entire sentence was suspended for eight years, subject to strict conditions.
He was also ordered to pay €15,000 to the Barnardos children’s charity within six months.
Det Sgt Eric Naughton of the Divisional Protective Service Unit in Athlone told the judge that the PSNI sent an intelligence pack to gardaí regarding a specific user on chatrooms and social media apps.
Smyth initially used the username “Older Guy” when communicating with what he believed was a 13-year-old girl named “Jess”.
He began asking if “Jess” looked “hot” in her school uniform and, using graphic terms, if she had ever let a man touch her sexually.
The father of two used WhatsApp to send images of a sexual nature.
Defence counsel John Shortt referred to case law that when addiction has been identified, the primary issue for the court is rehabilitation and preventing reoffending.