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Judge Dara Hayes noted the defendant acknowledged the harm to the victims, had taken steps to address his risk factors and had not come to further adverse garda attention.
A 42 year old man who told gardaí that he had mostly obtained child abuse material recovered from his electronic devices from his ‘Twitter’ account, has been jailed for 12 months at Dundalk Circuit Court.
Adrian Fegan of Kingswood, Blackrock Road, Dundalk was sent forward from the district court having entered signed guilty pleas to six counts of possessing the material.
His home was searched on December third 2022, after members of the Louth Divisional Protective Services Unit were made aware of an ongoing investigation into child exploitation relating to two images uploaded to the defendant’s Gmail account on two dates in April that year.
Thirty three physical exhibits in the form of electronic equipment were seized including mobile phones, laptops, hard drives and i-pads.
Six were positive for child abuse material – with 60 images and 42 videos identified, involving victims between the ages of 11 and 14.
The defendant, who had no previous convictions, was assessed as being at medium risk of reoffending, but had self-referred himself to One in Four and engaged meaningfully with the programme.
Judge Dara Hayes noted that the defendant accepted the seriousness of his offending and acknowledged the harm to the victims, had taken steps to address his risk factors and had not come to adverse garda attention in the interim.
He imposed a 20 month sentence, but suspended the final eight for two years on him entering a bond to be of good behaviour, placing himself under the supervision of the Probation Service for two years post release and that he continues with the One in Four aftercare programme.
