Former school principal jailed for child pornography offence

A RETIRED secondary school principal was given a 10-month jail sentence yesterday for having 289 child pornographic images and six such video files on his computer two years ago.

Judge Con O’Leary suspended the last seven months of that sentence on Anthony Canniffe at Cork District Court.

The 62-year-old had the child pornography at his home at 8, Rosegarth, Donnybrook, Douglas, Cork, on October 16, 2008. He has since moved to Scotland.

Judge O’Leary said: “He was an educated man who took advantage of the fact that these children (in the pornographic images) had been quite brutally abused.”

The judge refused a defence application by barrister Sinead Behan to suspend the entirety of the sentence.

“He was dealing with children all his life. He knows how vulnerable they are, he knows young people are hurt in relatively minor incidents. He knew how they take things to heart and how they are damaged and he went and did this,” Judge O’Leary said.

The images with which Canniffe was caught included pictures of six- to 12-year-old children in acts of oral sex and acts of penetrative sexual intercourse and other less severe images.

Ms Behan said yesterday that Canniffe had been in education for 37 years, seven as a principal. “He has had contact with members of the public including youths and never were there any complaints of any description against him by members of the public. His wife remains supportive although this has taken a toll on their relationship, it has tested it — publicity has had repercussions for him and for his wife and family. He has a tremendous sense of shame and remorse.

“He now realises the impact on the children in those images,” Ms Behan said.

However, Judge O’Leary could not understand how that only dawned on the defendant afterwards, rather than at the time when he accessed the images.

Judge O’Leary said: “He knew, day one, it was wrong; he knew, day one, it was seriously unlawful.”

Canniffe had 30 sessions of counselling and six-week intensive course to deal with his problems in this area.

Det Garda Michael Hogan previously testified that the forensic evidence was that the images and video clips had been downloaded on to the defendant’s computer from child pornography sites and that there had been no evidence of purchasing the material by cash or credit card transactions.

Defence barrister Sinead Behan said there was no evidence of the material being distributed by the defendant to anyone else or of him taking such photographs.

The jail sentence is to be appealed.

Canniffe’s name was put on the Sex Offenders’ Register yesterday for five years.