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The State contended that the case should go to the Circuit Court, which has wider sentencing powers.
A DUBLIN TEENAGER addicted to online pornography from the age of nine has been handed a deferred sentence for recording sexual video chats with young girls and possessing 1,300 child sexual abuse images.
The 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named because he is a juvenile, pleaded guilty at the Dublin Children’s Court to possessing and producing child pornography, as it is referred to in law, and has been spared an immediate custodial sanction.
Judge Paul Kelly noted on Tuesday that the boy’s parents thought their son was playing computer games and did not understand technology, but now realise they were naive and, looking back, can spot the “red flags”.
The teenager has already been detained for another sexual offence and will be released early next year under supervision.
Describing it as a complex case and taking legal precedents into account, Judge Kelly imposed a six-month sentence but held off activating it until review in April 2027. Then he will decide whether to suspend it fully or impose the sentence.
In the meantime, the teen must remain subject to conditions and supervision. He is also required to be subject to the terms of the sex offenders register for three years.
A Garda Divisional Protective Service Unit investigation led to electronic devices being seized from his home in January 2024, when he was aged 15.
Detective Garda Carol Corrigan told Judge Kelly they were submitted to the Garda National Cybercrime Bureau for examination, which detected the presence of a “substantial volume” of sexual material on a phone and an iPad: 2,821 images and videos.
He had 105 images and 46 videos in the child sexual category, which involves explicit acts by children under 18.
The court heard that in the child exposure category, he had 2,282 images, 426 videos, and eight child synthetic or AI images, often known as anime or hentai.
The longest video, which was in the child sexual category, was 27 minutes and 54 seconds, and the shortest video was five seconds.
Many of the videos were self-generated, or screenshot recordings of the boy speaking to girls believed to be aged 13 to 16, but no one in the footage could be identified. The detective said the accused recorded sexually explicit acts with other mostly unidentified girls without their knowledge. Some featured the boy masturbating, and it was believed the girls mostly lived abroad.
Another video featured a child as young as eight, the court heard.
Extensive reports on the youth were furnished for the sentencing hearing, with the judge noting the teenager is assessed as being a risk of reoffending, but maintains not to be attracted to children.
It also emerged that he had spent time online alone and was not engaged in other outside activities after being bullied by peers.
He remained isolated, and his online interest worsened during the Covid years. It was like a “bomb” hit his family when gardaí discovered the material he had recorded or downloaded, the court heard.
Not all the pictures recovered from his devices were unique.
Defence counsel Orla Doolin established that almost half of the images, 1,300, were duplicates.
Doolin cited an academic criminology article published in recent years, which set out how the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, introduced in 1998, did not envisage this type of scenario for a young person with the technology available today, such as smartphones.
She said it was targeted at traditional child pornographic offences, and would not have considered that children may have voluntarily participated.
The State contended that the case should go to the Circuit Court, which has wider sentencing powers.
Defence counsel cited case law from the appeal courts.
She submitted that the Children’s Court sentencing options, a maximum of two years’ detention and a range of community sanctions, were suitable for this case, and that there was no evidence of sophistication or adult grooming involved in the material found on the teenager’s devices. Jurisdiction was retained.
Doolin also informed the judge that the teenager had availed of specialised counselling to assist young people who became involved in sexual offending.
The secondary school pupil was not required to give evidence to the court, which heard he had dyspraxia, dyslexia and other diagnoses, and he has career plans after his Leaving Certificate. The judge noted that the youth’s future employment prospects would be affected by his convictions and being on the sex offender’s register.
His parents accompanied him to court, and they thanked the judge at the end of the hearing.