Man charged with possessing child porn remanded in custody

A 59-year-old man was remanded in custody today on a charge of being in possession of downloaded images of child pornography at an apartment in Cork last night.

Detective Garda Niall O’Connell formally arrested Dominic Donovan at Mayfield Garda station at 11pm on Wednesday night and brought him before Cork District Court.

“I charged him, I read over the charge to him and he made no reply to the charge,” Det. Garda O’Connell said.

Donovan is charged with knowingly having in his possession child pornography in the form of downloaded images depicting children engaged in sexual activity, contrary to Section 6(1) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act of 1998.

Solicitor, Michael Moloney, suggested that the case should be dealt with in camera whereby the accused would not be identified because of the nature of the charge. Judge Con O’Leary said there were no grounds for granting that application.

Mr Moloney was appointed to represent Donovan on free legal aid after the judge was told that the defendant’s income was disability benefit.

Det Garda O’Connell said the prosecution application was for a remand in custody.

Mr Moloney said there was no application for bail on Donovan’s behalf at this stage.

Judge O’Leary remanded the accused in custody to appear at Cork District Court again on January 15.

Inspector Michael McGuire said there were no directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions later on whether the case should be dealt with at Cork District Court or Cork Circuit Criminal Court.