Cork man sentenced for having child sexual abuse images

A “vulnerable” man accessed adult pornography until “things went towards the horrible” and he was caught with 17 child sexual abuse images, for which he was prosecuted.

Today at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, 23-year-old Dara Somers of Reenmeen East, Glengarriff, Co Cork, was sentenced to an 18-month suspended term by Judge Helen Boyle.

Detective Garda Sheila O’Brien of the Garda Protective Services Unit said gardaí were alerted to the matter and carried out a search at South Mall Court, South Mall, Cork, on February 27, 2023, where the defendant was living.

Of the images on his Samsung mobile phone, five were in the most serious category and the remaining 12 were classed as category two images.

Det Garda O’Brien said: “I would describe him as vulnerable.

“At interview he was polite and co-operative.”

Judge Mary Dorgan previously refused jurisdiction at Cork District Court so the matter had to be dealt with at the circuit court.

Defence barrister Alison McCarthy said: “His probation officer said he would benefit from a period of supervision by the service to assist him in dealing with his offending behaviour, and to engage in therapy if necessary.

“He has learned a serious lesson.

“He is extremely upset by his actions and what he has done.”

Ms McCarthy said that the man had been viewing adult pornography online for a few months when he was sent an image of child sexual abuse.

Ms McCarthy said that, by his own description, the offending material Somers saw was horrible.