No jail for man in Cork who downloaded cartoon images of children in sexual acts

As part of the suspension, the young man has to continue with the Footsteps programme

The Director of Public Prosecutions directed that the case could be dealt with at district court level on a plea of guilty only. File photo: Larry Cummins

Downloading cartoon images depicting children in sexual acts resulted in a man being prosecuted and sentenced for possession of child pornography.

The Director of Public Prosecutions directed that the case could be dealt with at district court level on a plea of guilty only.

Now at Cork District Court, 25-year-old Nabil Ibrahim of Ashbrook Heights, Lehenaghmore, Togher, Cork, pleaded guilty to having child pornography at his home on February 3, 2019.

Unusually in this case, all but one of the images were cartoon depictions of children engaged in acts of a sexual nature, Sergeant Pat Lyons said. Eddie Burke, solicitor previously asked for a probation report to be prepared on the young man who has no previous convictions.

Mr Burke said on behalf of the accused: “In his statement, he said he came across a folder and downloaded it by accident.” The solicitor said 25 images were on the folder and 24 of them were cartoon images.

Mr Burke said Nabil Ibrahim cooperated from the moment he was approached by gardaí in relation to the matter. Judge Olann Kelleher considered the contents of the probation report, the submissions made by Mr Burke and the fact that the accused had no previous convictions.

Judge Kelleher imposed a sentence of four months but suspended it on condition that the accused would keep the peace and be of good behaviour and commit no other offences in the next two years.

The judge also made it a condition of the suspension that the young man would continue with the Footsteps programme which deals with issues of defendants in cases like this. The defendant, in this case, was directed to undertake this course by the probation service.

Previously in court, Mr Burke said the young man was seeing a psychiatrist to deal with certain issues.