Man who sent images of child abuse material to a woman he was seeing is jailed

Sonya McLean

A man who sent images of child abuse material to a woman he was seeing at the time over a messaging service has been jailed for two years.

Shane Byrne (38) Riversdale Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the distribution of child sexual abuse images in May and June 2016.

Garda Deirdre Cotter told Diana Stuart BL, prosecuting, that Byrne had been messaging a woman he was in an "on and off relationship" with, when the woman noticed that the messages “started to get weird”.

She said Byrne asked her to be a 12-year-old and call her Daddy. He also asked her if she had younger children living with her.

At one point Byrne asked her if she could “get a child younger than five years old” as “they wouldn’t understand”. He then sent her an image of child abuse and told the woman he was raping a six year old in the photo.

Gda Cotter confirmed that Byrne could not be seen in the image, just the child. Byrne sent the woman two further images of child abuse material involving young girls.

The woman contacted gardaí and Byrne was arrested.

He said he knew the woman and confirmed they were in an “on off relationship”. He agreed that they sent naked photographs of themselves to each other but denied that he had sent the images of the children.

He told the gardaí “no, Jesus, no” and said it was not in his nature to talk like that. He said he never looked at child pornography in his life.

Gda Cotter agreed with Kathleen Leader SC, defending, that after these allegations came to light Byrne moved to England to live with his grandfather.

While in England, he was jailed for an assault. He was ultimately extradited back to Ireland last July and has been in custody since.

Ms Stuart confirmed that gardaí were never able to confirm where the images originated from.

Ms Leader told Judge Martin Nolan that her client felt he could no longer live in Ireland after he was caught and he moved to England to live with his grandfather.

He had attended for counselling while in prison in England and is on an enhanced regime since his remand in Midlands Prison. He is on medication for anxiety.

Judge Nolan said the woman was “very apprehensive” about Byrne’s interest and the images that were distributed to her.

He acknowledged that Byrne had pleaded guilty to the offences and that a custodial sentence was warranted after commenting that Byrne had “a very unhealthy interest in children”.

Judge Nolan sentenced Byrne to three years in prison before he suspended the last 12 months of the sentence on strict conditions including that he remain under the supervision of the Probation Service for 12 months backdated to when he went into custody last July.