Students who hacked FG election website avoid jail

Two students, who hacked Fine Gael’s 2011 election website, have been spared jail sentences and left with clean records.

Darren Martyn, aged 21, from Cloonbeggin, Claregalway, Galway, and 20-year-old Donnacha Ó Cearbhaill from The Ring, Birr, Co Offaly, were the first to be successfully prosecuted in Ireland for computer hacking.

The hi-tech whizzkids, who used the online aliases “Raepsauce” and “Palladium”, had been identified by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation in conjunction with the FBI, Dublin District Court had heard.

They had pleaded guilty in July to criminal damage to the www.finegael2011.ie website, which was defaced, had its database stolen and was knocked offline for 24 hours after it was hacked on Jan 9, 2011 — seven weeks before the general election. In court their actions were described as a “stunt” to embarrass the party.

In July, Judge Ann Ryan had noted that the pair had no prior criminal convictions and she had ordered them to take part in restorative justice programme through the Probation Service.

Yesterday, the case resumed and Judge Ryan noted the pre-sentence probation report was “very good”. She said she was delighted that they had put their expertise to good use and told them: “I hope you have learned your lesson.”

They had also been ordered to bring €5,000 each to court for payment to Fine Gael to cover the costs of getting the website running again after it had been hacked.

Judge Ryan noted that the students, who were accompanied to their hearing by family members, had brought the money to court. Fine Gael had decided that half of it should go to suicide prevention charity Pieta House and the remainder would be used to cover legal costs they incurred.

Judge Ryan said the pair had a “a lot to give to society” and she applied the Probation Offenders Act; this means the young men have been jail spared sentences and will not have criminal records.