Suspended sentence for Castlebar man found with child pornography

A CASTLEBAR man who was caught in possession of over 700 images and videos of child pornography admitted to gardaí that he had ‘a problem’.

Lee Carroll (33) of Cloonkeen, Castlebar, appeared before Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court, where he pleaded guilty to the possession and distribution of child pornography discovered on mobile phones and a laptop.

Detective Garda Declan Sweeney told the court that in June 2020, gardaí in Castlebar received a report in relation to the possession and upload of child pornography via an Instagram account in the name of the defendant.

On June 17, 2020, gardaí executed a search warrant at Mr Carroll’s home, which is when the defendant told gardaí that he has ‘a problem with child porn’, that he had ‘some on my phone’.

A number of electronic items were seized and Mr Carroll admitted to having child porn on the devices, which included three tablets and six mobile phones.

Det Garda Sweeney said that 206 images of a child sexual nature and 16 videos of children engaged in sexual activity along with 171 images of child exposure and one video of child exposure were found on five phones.

The laptop contained 53 images of a child in a sexual nature and 125 videos of a child sexual nature while 186 images were of child exposure and 12 videos of child exposure. Mr Carroll, the court heard, made full admissions when interviewed by the Gardaí.

Predatory

JUDGE Eoin Garavan was informed that Mr Carroll had a difficult upbringing, and that he lived in Islandeady with his father and in Manchester with his mother. He struggled in school due to dyslexia and enrolled in Youth Reach before living with his grandfather in Islandeady.

With the assistance of an aunt he joined the Order of Malta, and through that he managed to get a job with a haulage company in Mayo. However, he lost the job as a result of his arrest.

Mr Carroll, who has no previous convictions, came forward from the district court on a signed plea of guilty.

When questioned by Mr Desmond Dockery, senior counsel for Mr Carroll, Det Garda Sweeney said the defendant was fully cooperative and forthright when questioned, stating he did not know why he behaved this way.

Mr Dockery said his client was influenced by a person he met while gaming online, but Det Garda Sweeney said that while this was mentioned by Mr Carroll, he did not know if it was true.

Mr Dockery said that the matter came to the attention of the Gardaí after his client uploaded a 15-second video on Instagram that contained child pornography.

He said Mr Carroll’s probation report indicated that his needs are complex and that he did not know why he engaged in this behaviour.

He said his client is a very vulnerable person and ripe for manipulation and had a difficult upbringing. He added that as a result of the attention brought by the arrests, he has lost two jobs as a a driver.

Predatory

JUDGE Garavan described this as a sad case for everyone involved but in particular the young victims which he said were the victims of predatory men like Mr Carroll.

Judge Garavan noted that the psychiatric report stated that Mr Carroll was sexually aroused by the material and that he engaged in it for his own sexual gratification knowing it was morally wrong.

He acknowledged that Mr Carroll had a difficult upbringing and that Dr John Bogue, the clinical psychiatrist who assessed him, was worried about his mental health, revealing that he had suicidal thoughts.

Judge Garavan described the exploitation and abuse of the children as ‘sinister’ and ‘evil’, and he said Mr Carroll had played his part in this by his activities.

He sentenced Mr Carroll to 18 months’ imprisonment for the distribution of child pornography and 14 months for the possession, with each sentence was to run consecutively.

However, he suspended the entirety of the sentence for three years on condition Mr Carroll comes under the care of the Probation Services for two years and allows gardaí access to any electronic devices in his possession.