Child abuse images found on computer are 'stomach churning'

A laptop belonging to Matthew Johnstone (31) was seized by gardaí and found to contain 22 images and 13 videos of children between the ages of one and 12 years old being sexually and physically abused.

 A bar manager was caught in possession of “stomach churning” files depicting children as young as 12 months old being sexually abused, a court has heard.

A laptop belonging to Matthew Johnstone (31) was seized by gardaí and found to contain 22 images and 13 videos of children between the ages of one and 12 years old being sexually and physically abused.

Johnstone of Brabazon House, Cork Street, Dublin city centre, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of child pornography at his home on November 19, 2018. He has no previous convictions.

Detective Garda Tara Dolan told John Berry BL, prosecuting, that gardaí were informed by another police service of suspicious activity of an IP address which was linked to the accused's address on Cork Street.

Images and videos discovered

Det Gda Dolan said the apartment was searched and a number of electronic items were seized. Gardaí discovered that one laptop contained 22 images and 13 videos of children being sexually abused.

The images depicted girls between the age of four and 12 years old being sexually abused by adults. 

The videos depicted girls between the age of one and 10 years old being sexually abused by adults. Four of the videos depicted the same 18-month-old baby being subjected to a variety of physical and sexual abuse by an adult woman, while another was described as being a “trailer” for these four videos.

Judge Pauline Codd said the images were “stomach churning” even in describing them, “let alone viewing them”. 

She said she wished to see documentary evidence of the steps the accused has taken to rehabilitate.

Judge Codd adjourned the matter for finalisation on March 24, next.

Many of the images and videos were found in a recycle folder indicating that they had been deleted. Some of the material was found in system generated files which are created when files are viewed and are not ordinarily accessible to the user.

Gardaí discovered that in the laptop's search history there was a search for a “TOR hidden service child pornography website” which was used to access several of the video files.

Det Gda Dolan agreed with Fiona Murphy SC, defending, that there had been “limited viewing” of the video files. She agreed that Johnstone had told gardaí he had been in contact with certain people over social media and became involved in the offending through this.

Marriage breakdown

Ms Murphy said her client's marriage has broken down and he is “on the path” to being divorced. She said he had been employed at a restaurant for over five years, but he left this employment after the offending came to light.

A previous court sitting heard Johnstone had worked as a bar manager.

Ms Murphy said her client is “genuinely sorry” and has turned away from this type of activity. She said he fully understands the seriousness of his actions and has attended two counsellors.

Counsel said the court has heard cases in which the number of files went into the hundreds or thousands and that was not the case here and she asked the court to impose a non-custodial sentence.