Child porn garda sergeant remanded in custody

A Garda Sergeant who paid a prostitute £100 to find him a girl aged between seven and 10 years to have sex with has been remanded in custody for sentence for soliciting and child internet pornographic offences.

Kieran O'Halloran picked up the 21-year-old woman on Blackhall Place in Dublin and when they went to a flat on James' Street he said he was looking for a young girl.

He told her he didn't see it as sexual abuse because he was willing to pay for the service.

She took down his mobile telephone number and said she would meet him on the south side of the city but, instead, she contacted gardai.

Once O'Halloran was identified the gardai obtained a search warrant for his home at Five Oakes in Drogheda where they seized two computers.

Pornographic material was recovered from one of the computers showing a number of pictures of children engaged in naked poses and sexual activity.

However, a newer model had a number of images deleted but the gardai were able to access a number of child pornography websites that had previously been visited by O'Halloran.

O'Halloran (41), a married father-of-one pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to soliciting a woman to procure a child for the purpose of her sexual exploitation on December 6, 2001, and to the possession of child pornography on December 8, 2001.

Judge Frank O'Donnell said he needed time to consider every aspect of the case and remanded O'Halloran for sentence on February 7.

Detective Inspector John McMahon told Mr Brendan Grehan BL, prosecuting, that when the prostitute rang the Bridewell and gave them O'Halloran's mobile number, the garda on duty thought she had been given a contact number for the girl because of a bad line.

O'Halloran answered when the phone was dialed, and the call was quickly terminated.

They were able to track him down because of phone records, the registration of his car, which the woman took down, and CCTV footage of him withdrawing cash at an ATM on James' St to pay for the child.

Det Insp McMahon said the woman made a detailed statement of her dealings with O'Halloran and outlined that he paid her £100 punt even though her fee was only £80 punt and they did not engage in any sexual activity.

When the gardai called to his home he said he had been expecting them but asked that the search be delayed so his family could leave.

Gardai seized the two computers, some credit card documentation and his mobile phone which he had thrown in his wheelie bin out the back.

They located a program on the newer computer called 'evidence eliminator' which had been installed a number of months before.

They also discovered the computer had been cleansed the morning after his encounter with the prostitute.

O'Halloran took full responsibility for all materials found on the computers but denied throughout that he had solicited the woman to find him a young child.

Det Insp McMahon agreed with Mr Michael O'Higgins SC that O'Halloran had been a very capable and competent member of the gardai and very well-respected. He had held a command post for 12 months in Croatia while working for the United Nations.

He was suspended from the gardai after his arrest and resigned before his guilty pleas last November. His marriage was deteriorating before his arrest but this was the last straw. He now lived away from the family home.

Dr Patrick Walsh, the Director of the Granada Institute, said he had been treating O'Halloran for the past year. He had received over 200 hours of therapy and his progress was good. There was a low risk that he might offend again.

Dr Walsh said O'Halloran was the victim of a brutal rape in his early teens and this was consistent with sexual tendencies he now showed.

He had a serious drink problem and often entered child pornography sites late at night when he was very drunk.

Dr Walsh added that sexual abuse victims often sought to avenge their wretched childhoods by downloading child pornography but only a quarter intended to perpetrate any crimes on kids.

Mr O'Higgins submitted that imposing a jail sentence on O'Halloran would seriously disrupt the treatment he had already received. Out of 300 sex offenders in prison there was only space for 20 of them to receive counselling and treatment.

He said O'Halloran had already gone through great suffering and had lost his career, his marriage and his status as an upstanding and respected member of the community. He would now be a despised man.

Mr O'Higgins said O'Halloran had pleaded guilty to two heinous crimes but they had to be less serious than a lot of sexual offences considering no contact with any child was made.

He had shown genuine remorse and had even broken down crying about his request to the prostitute while in the car with he suggesting she must have considered him a monster.

Mr O'Higgins asked Judge O'Donnell if he would take the appropriate steps to ensure his client's safety while in custody.