Man (33) who pled guilty to child sexual abuse images cannot be named for now, judge rules

Gordon Deegan

A judge has ruled that a 33-year-old Co Clare man who has pleaded guilty to two separate counts of the unlawful possession of child sexual abuse images cannot be identified - for now.

At Ennis Circuit Court, the man was arraigned and pleaded guilty to the possession of child sexual abuse images on a OnePlus mobile phone and Alba Tablet under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998 at his Co Clare home on February 10th, 2021.

When first charged in Ennis District Court, the man was accused of having in his possession the Alba tablet containing 38 images of child sexual abuse material and 38 videos of child sexual abuse material.

The man was also charged with having a OnePlus mobile phone containing 1,846 images of child sexual abuse material and 771 videos of child sexual abuse material.

When the matter was before the district court, solicitor Daragh Hassett for the accused said that the matter is particularly serious and asked that the legal aid certificate be extended for two barristers to represent the man in the circuit court.

Now, at Ennis Circuit Court, Lorcan Connolly SC told Judge Francis Comerford that he was seeking reporting restrictions on the identity of his client in circumstances where there a number of children in the background here.

Mr Connolly said that he would address Judge Comerford at the sentencing hearing “to put meat on the bone” of his application for his client not be named.

He said: “Where there are children in the background the court has certain options open to it and I will make a more detailed application at the sentencing hearing and it is not something you can deal with on the hoof.”

Mr Connolly said that “it is an important point”.

Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Sarah Jane Comerford BL (Instructed by State Solicitor for Clare, Aisling Casey) said that the State has no objection to a stay on the accused being named at this stage.

Ms Comerford said that “once we have more thoroughly canvassed the issue we will have instructions at that point”.

Mr Connolly said that his client “has had addiction issues in the past and psychiatric issues, and I would ask that the legal aid certificate be extended for the purposes of getting a report from a consultant psychiatrist”.

Mr Connolly added: “This man has had an involvement with the Probation Services a number of years and I would ask the court to prepare a Probation Report.”

He said that his client has moved to another county and is gainfully employed.

Judge Comerford said that would be direct that reporting restrictions remain in place for now, pending Mr Connolly’s application for permanent restrictions on reporting at the sentencing hearing.

Judge Comerford further remanded the accused on bail to November 14th for a call over of cases.