Waterford man avoids jail for child abuse images due to 'glowing' probation report 

Judge says he could understand the public querying the suspended sentence, but cited the efforts the man made to rehabilitate himself 

Gardaí found 33 images on Daniel Drummy's phone of girls aged from 3 to 13 in stages of undress, with their genitalia exposed. Picture: Pexels

A “glowing” probation report helped secure a suspended sentence for a young Dungarvan man convicted of possession of child abuse images.

Daniel Drummy, 22, of Apartment 2, 86 O’Connell St, was before Dungarvan District Court for sentencing, having pleaded guilty at a previous sitting to possession of 33 images of child pornography contrary to Section 6 (1) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998.

Sentencing had been deferred pending the probation report.

Inspector Stephen Murphy said gardaí had seized Drummy’s mobile phone when executing a search warrant at his family home in Dungarvan on July 26, 2017.

Images of girls aged 3 to 13

The inspector described finding images from the internet of girls aged three to 13, who had been photographed provocatively while either naked or in stages of undress, with genitalia exposed. 

The inspector said there was no evidence that the defendant had published the images, he had no previous convictions, and had not come to Garda attention since. He said no payment had been made for the images.

Defence solicitor Niall King referenced his client’s probation report which Judge Brian O’Shea interjected to describe as “hugely positive”.

The solicitor classed the defendant’s behaviour as “exploratory”. The matter had greatly distressed the defendant’s family and he had moved out of home.

He said his client is “very remorseful” and while one image is “one too many”, 33 is “not a large amount” on the wider scale of things.

Mitigation

Dealing with the issue as “a single charge”, Judge O’Shea said he was satisfied that the offence was “at the upper end of the spectrum of gravity in a district court”, but might be “at a lower end in a different court”.

The fact that there were a number of images was "an aggravating factor", he said.

However, in mitigation, the defendant had “pleaded guilty, has no previous convictions, was not involved in publication of material, comes from a good family background, was just 18 and a half at the time and is in full-time employment”.

Drummy's efforts at rehabilitating himself

Judge O’Shea said the appropriate sentence was six months imprisonment and he could understand that the public would question why he would contemplate suspending that sentence.

“But they don’t have the glowing probation report I have before me," he said, “nor know the effort at rehabilitating himself and the various courses”, Mr Drummy had undertaken.

The judge said he was “very familiar with one of those courses” and Drummy, having completed it, “tells me he is highly unlikely to become involved in that kind of behaviour again”.

He suspended the sentence for two years on the defendant’s own bond of €100.