'Close-run thing' whether to imprison man for possession of child sexual abuse imagery

Cork man, 26, given suspended sentence after material found by gardaí was 'in explicit range', judge says

Michael Mullen of Summerstown Rd, Wilton, Cork, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of possessing child pornography, with a further three counts taken into consideration.

A Cork man, aged 26, avoided jail after being handed a suspended sentence for possession of child sexual abuse imagery.

Michael Mullen of Summerstown Rd, Wilton, Cork, pleaded guilty on his trial date at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of possessing child pornography, with a further three counts taken into consideration.

Passing sentence on Thursday, Judge Martin Nolan told Mullen that it was a “close-run thing whether or not to imprison” him.

He handed Mullen a suspended two-and-a-half-year sentence on strict conditions. He also ordered Mullen to be placed under the supervision of the Probation Service for 18 months.

Judge Nolan said a lot of the material found by gardaí was “serious” and in the “explicit range”. He noted that someone “does not find this material by accident; they have to go looking for it”.

Detective Garda Tara Power told Sinéad McMullen, prosecuting, that in April 2019 she was involved in Operation Ketch, an investigation targeting producers and distributors of online child sexual exploitation material.

Mullen was arrested after gardaí got information linking a Dropbox account to his former address at a flat on Dublin’s South Circular Rd. Shortly after 7am on May 16, 2019, gardaí searched the flat where Mullen was present and found him to be very cooperative.

Det Garda Power said Mullen handed over a blank Alba android phone and gave the Pin code and phone number.

He told gardaí that there was “a good bit” of child sexual abuse imagery on the phone, of children under the age of eight, and that he had screenshotted these images, the court heard. Mullen said he had had the images for a number of weeks and had wanted to tell gardaí about it.

Dropbox account

Det Garda Power said they went through a Dropbox account and a Facebook account linked to the accused and found videos and images of boys and girls aged between six and 12, some depicting children being vaginally and anally raped. Over 110 videos and 16 images were found in the Dropbox account alone, the court heard.

The court heard some of the videos and images were categorised as being Level 1, showing children involved in a sexual act, while other material was Level 2, with children exposing their genitals.

Luigi Rea, defending, said although Mullen had pleaded guilty at a late stage, it was still a valuable plea for the Garda investigation. Counsel submitted that the charges do not suggest that Mullen was involved in the production or distribution of child pornography.

He said Mullen had worked in a number of charity shops and had also worked in a restaurant and a call centre, but that after this offence came to light, he had found himself unemployed and living in hostel accommodation.

Mr Rea said Mullen had brought shame on himself and his family and had learned a very salutary lesson. 

“That part of his life is now over,” said Mr Rea. “It’s a bit like lifting a stone and underneath the gardaí made a very unpleasant series of discoveries,” he added, describing Mullen’s offending as “a one-off series of events from which he made no financial gain”.

Judge Nolan said he had decided not to imprison Mullen immediately, after taking the mitigating factors into consideration. He warned Mullen that if he is found in possession of similar material again, he will face time in prison.