Court hears Canadian police alerted garda that Dublin man, 56, had purchased child pornography

A Dublin father of two has been given a suspended sentence for possession of child pornography.

Michael Bohan (56) was traced by gardaí who received information relating to email and IP addresses from Canadian police who had raided a company distributing child pornography.

Bohan, of Old Cabra Road, Cabra, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of 1265 images and 23 videos of child pornography on May 9, 2013.

The images and videos which were on various storage devices taken from Bohan's home depicted pre-teens engaging in sexual activity with those of a similar age, as well as pre-teens with their genitalia exposed. Eight printed images classified as child pornography were also recovered.

The material seized was not analysed for four years until 2017 due to a lack of resources in the Garda Computer Crime Unit. Bohan was not charged for a further year until 2018.

Defence counsel, Philip Rahn BL, submitted in mitigation that there had been no sharing or distribution of the material, that Bohan had co-operated with gardaí and not offended previously.

Judge Martin Nolan said the case law in relation to child pornography was clear and where certain mitigating circumstances were present, such as those in this case, then a suspended sentence should be considered.

He noted the delay in analysing the material and said a four year delay “does impose significant stress on a person being investigated.

Judge Nolan said:

Possession of child pornography is a serious offence. It is not a victimless crime, this material is produced somewhere and this involves the misuse and abuse of children.

He took into account the guilty plea, admissions, previous good record and work history. He also noted that a conviction of this type leads to significant shame on the defendant “in the eyes of right thinking people.” He imposed a two and a half year sentence which he suspended in full.

Garda Robert Madden told Diarmuid Collins BL, prosecuting, that Bohan had purchased 46 videos from the Canadian company, not all of which were child pornography. Gardaí traced Bohan to his home address and seized a number of storage devices and a computer.

Analysis of the computer also revealed internet search terms known to be related to child porn.

Bohan, who has no previous convictions, attended at a garda station the following morning and made admissions. He co-operated with gardaí during the search of his home.

Mr Rahn handed in a number of reports to the court. He outlined a report from Forensic Pyschological Services which had assessed his client and placed him at low risk of re-offending.

He said Bohan had been attending psychotherapy and was proactive in addressing his behaviour.

Counsel said there had been a number of stressors in Bohan's life at the time including stress at work. He said Bohan had been medicated for depression and anxiety.

He said Bohan was deeply remorseful for his behaviour and had brought deep shame on his family.

Counsel said the number of images, while not at the low end, were not in the tens of thousands.

He also asked Judge Nolan to take into account that Bohan would be placed on the sex offenders register.