Cork man appears in court in child sex abuse imagery case

A 35-year-old man was arrested and charged with having images and videos of prepubescent boys at his home in Cork.

Detective Garda Alan Johnson arrested the man at Cork District Court and charged him with the single count.

It states that on March 24, 2020, at his home he did knowingly have at his home in his possession child pornography, namely 191 images and videos of prepubescent boys.

The charge alleges that 66 of the images and 63 videos were in the most serious category, showing children in or observing sexual acts, and 58 images and four videos in category 2 which depict children with their genital area exposed.

Defence solicitor, Eddie Burke, suggested that there should be an order prohibiting identification of the accused in case it would identify any children.

Sergeant Pat Lyons said that, for the moment, the State agreed that there should be a reporting restriction in relation to identifying the accused. However, he said that this matter may be revisited.

Judge Mary Dorgan made the order in relation to not identifying the accused.

Sgt Lyons said the Director of Public Prosecutions had decided that the case should be dealt with by indictment at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

The DPP said a signed plea of guilty could be entered in the district court for sentencing in the circuit court.

Mr Burke asked for a copy of the prosecution statements to consider if there would be a signed plea of guilty or if a book of evidence would have to be prepared.

Judge Dorgan adjourned the case until February 13, 2024 for that purpose.

One of the bail conditions requires the accused to sign on once a week at his local garda station.