'Plain evil' uncle jailed for livestreaming sexual assault of sleeping nephew

Tom Tuite

A "trusted" uncle who livestreamed a web chat to a random man online as he sexually assaulted his sleeping 12-year-old nephew has been jailed for 10 years.

The Midlands man, in his 40s, also secretly filmed a friend's daughter using the toilet, and pleaded guilty to sexual assault, as well as possession and production of child sex abuse material on dates in 2021.

He is not being identified to protect the victims' right to anonymity.

"Predatory, systemic, calculated, and plain evil," were some of the words Judge Keenan Johnson used to describe the crimes.

The impassive perpetrator, who was babysitting when he abused his sister's son, sat with his arms folded for most of his sentence hearing at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court on Friday afternoon.

Judge Johnson berated the accused over his deviant interests and for premeditated exploitation of vulnerable children motivated by sexual gratification.

He also drew attention to the man's constant deflections and denials despite overwhelming evidence. He had changed his plea shortly before his scheduled trial and, in meetings with his probation officer, tried to portray himself as the victim due to having been abused at a young age.

In sentencing, Judge Johnson emphasised the breach of trust, the lack of remorse, and the hurt caused to the injured parties and to the defendant's wider family. He was found to be at a high risk of reoffending.

Defence counsel Andrew Callan asked the judge to note that her client's own abuse experience at a young age may have skewed his view of the world and approach to children.

At an earlier hearing of the evidence last July, Detective Garda David Mead from the Divisional Protective Services Unit outlined how the boy detailed what happened in a specialist interview.

He fell asleep on a couch but woke to find the accused rubbing his penis with the palm of his hand under his clothes.

He revealed that he awoke because of the glow of his uncle "shining his phone in his face" and saw "a random guy". It was an adult, in the web chat on the screen, "touching himself as well".

The terrified boy ran to his room and hurriedly sent a Snapchat message to his mother.

He told gardaí, "I felt like puking, really scared". His mother returned and asked what had happened, and he initially convinced her everything was okay.

However, her concerns resurfaced when she later learned that her brother had befriended another young boy and allowed him to take showers in his workplace.

The victim's parents broached the subject again, and this time their son disclosed the abuse.

In a raw victim statement delivered last July, the boy's mother, holding back tears, turned to face her brother, saying her son had "trusted and loved you so much, and you took advantage of him.

She spoke out, saying the boy had been devastated and left confused.

"I have lost my brother, and best friend that I truly loved. I am so angry," adding, "you have ripped our family apart"

Concluding her impact statement, she had highlighted how his denials dragged out the case for three years and told him, "You caused the heartbreak that comes with that; today is the day I get justice".

He was then remanded in custody pending sentencing.

Judge Johnson was told that gardaí searched a property he used and found his phone also had two covert video recordings of a girl aged 10 - 12 using the toilet and showing her vagina.

His voice could be heard in the background of the videos, which lasted about 46 seconds.

The girl's mother was shocked when gardaí contacted her. She had known him through work, found him immature, and noticed he had been texting and inviting her son over.

In court, she told him he had stolen her daughter's innocence, and the child no longer feels safe, suffers distress and anxiety.

During his garda interview, he attempted to convince investigators that the phone's rear camera had activated when the flashlight was turned on, which was later found to be impossible.

He told gardaí that he was homosexual and not interested in girls.

He also had software to wipe his computer and had attempted to delete the Tor browser and another app for anonymous internet use.

However, gardaí recovered a two-minute video of one of his web chats, in which he spoke to a child, initially thinking it was a girl, but said "even better" on hearing it was a boy.

He encouraged that child to expose himself and masturbate. He did not show his face in the video chat, but the background matched his room.

The court heard that he was using an online platform for random web chats with individuals.

He had prior convictions for public order, criminal damage, driving offences, and failing to appear in court.