Cork man who sent 2,500 messages to boy had thousands of sexual abuse images on devices

Man gets suspended four-year sentence

A search of the man’s home and the seizure of phones and computers led to 9,000 files of child pornography being uncovered.

A 28-year-old man had sexually explicit text communications with a 15-year-old boy in Cork amounting to over 2,500 messages over a nine-day period until the boy’s father went to his local garda station with his son to report it.

The investigation that followed included a search of the man’s home and the seizure of phones and computers where over 9,000 files of child pornography were uncovered.

At Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Dermot Sheehan imposed a sentence of four years suspended on the accused man, James Varian, of Lios Na Greine, South Douglas Road, Cork.

When the accused man became aware that gardaí were investigating, he contacted the 15-year-old boy and told him to ‘purge texts, delete everything, wipe images’ on his phone that had been communicated between them.

Mr Varian, who is now 31, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography at the house where he lived at Ringmahon Road, Cork, on January 6, 2022, and a charge of using information and communication technology to facilitate the sexual exploitation of a child.

Detective Sergeant Brendan Corry gave evidence in the case, stating that gardaí were contacted in January 2022 by the teenager’s father who had become aware of the sexually explicit text communications that had taken place over a nine-day period around the Christmas holiday period of 2021/2022.

The communications were all via the Telegram app. When the man came to the garda station to alert them to the sexually explicit communications his son accomapnied him. The 28-year-old man was identified to gardaí.

Soon afterwards James Varian contacted gardaí and said he understood that they might be looking for him. The Protective Services Unit of An Garda Síochána were notified and an investigation began.

Images and videos

As well as the communications with the child, the large quantity of child pornography discovered included 7,781 images and 1,970 videos. While more that 1,000 images and over 300 videos were in the most serious category depicting children witnessing or engaged in sexual acts, the majority of the images were computer generated images of child pornography.

Jane Hyland, defence senior counsel, said of the accused: “He has high levels of anxiety and autistic traits. He is not minimising or rationalising what he did and he did express empathy for people harmed in the making of child pornography and said how deeply sorry he is for his actions.” 

Judge Dermot Sheehan said that as soon as the defendant got wind of the complaint he contacted gardaí to hand himself in.

“The contact between Mr Varian and this child was highly inappropriate where sexual matters were communicated between the then 28-year-old and the child.

“He was 28 at time, 31 now. He is at a very young age. He is working. He has a strong employment history. He went to forensic psychologist and attended counselling. What occurred was wrong. He has traits of autistic spectrum disorder. He has a history of isolation and bullying at school and relied on online communication as an outlet.

“This has brought distress and anxiety on him. His family have been significantly distressed and the family of the child have been significantly upset. He has expressed remorse and some empathy. In a letter to the court, he says he is very sorry, he regrets his actions at this stage, and he is looking for a second chance. He has taken steps to deal with his offending behaviour.

“He comes before the court without any previous convictions … In all the circumstances I will suspend the entirety of the four-year sentence and he is to come under the probation and welfare service.”