Man caught with child porn gets 4-year term
Marcin Wojciechowicz, aged 34, was caught after he accidentally left a USB memory key containing some of the material as well as a CV in his name in a co-worker’s van.
Gardaí were alerted and during the course of the investigation found over 16,000 images and 300 videos classified as child pornography on his USB stick, mobile phone, and laptop.
Wojciechowicz, with a former address at a hostel on Gardiner St, Dublin, has been in custody since his arrest. He pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on a mobile phone on June 2, 2015.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard over 700 of the images on the laptop were at the highest level possible.
Wojciechowicz told gardaí he was an “investigator” trying to catch paedophiles and must have downloaded the images accidentally. He also initially claimed that gardaí had “planted” the images.
The maximum sentence for possession of child pornography is five years and applies to cases of extreme volume and content, where there are also aggravating factors and an absence of mitigation.
Judge Melanie Greally noted that Wojciechowicz had been diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2010 but since his arrest he had responded well to medication and was now stable. She said he had been assessed as at moderate to high risk of re-offending.
Judge Greally imposed a sentence of four years with the final six months suspended taking into account his plea of guilty, lack of previous convictions and his psychiatric history.
She ordered that he continue to avail of psychiatric services and take his medication. She said that post-release he had to engage with psychiatric services in Poland for a period of one year.
