Man who was caught in Cork with over 1,000 child sex abuse images gets suspended sentence

The man claimed he accidentally downloaded them when viewing adult pornography and immediately deleted them

The court heard that the defendant 'has deep remorse, he takes full responsibility for his behaviour and he accepts that demand fuels this industry'. File picture: Larry Cummins

A man who was caught with child abuse images claimed that he accidentally downloaded them when viewing adult pornography and immediately deleted them but the sentencing judge and the detective and the probation service were all sceptical on this point.

Detective Garda Eimear Brennan said the accused man, Atiqur Rahman, was caught with 1,046 relevant images and videos at the house where he was living on February 2, 2019, at College Square, College Road, Cork.

Across four devices he had 1,013 videos and 33 images. Most of them were in the most serious category of such material depicting children engaged in or witnessing sexual acts. There were 815 videos of this kind and 19 images. 

The remaining material was in category 2 depicting children with genital or anal areas exposed.

The 34-year-old pleaded guilty to possession of the material but claimed it was accidental and that it was immediately deleted. Det. Garda Brennan said some videos and images were stored on a named file which contradicted the claim of immediately deleting them.

Neal Horgan, defence barrister, said there was no evidence of distribution and that the defendant was totally co-operative with the investigation and engaged proactively in counselling.

“He has deep remorse, he takes full responsibility for his behaviour and he accepts that demand fuels this industry,” Mr Horgan said. 

He has used his time positively since it was discovered in 2019. His time spent viewing the material was limited to a five-month period around that time.

Judge Helen Boyle said that, like Det. Garda Brennan and the probation officer, she was sceptical about his explanation.

“You knew what you were doing and were deliberately storing some of this material in a file. These children are re-victimised by adult males like yourself. I accept you have no previous. It dates back to 2019 and was done over a number of months at that time.

“You demonstrate a clear understanding. You lead a relatively prosocial and productive life outside your offending. You present as suitable for probation involvement in the future.

“On the basis of the probation report that they can work with you, I will suspend a sentence of two-and-a-half years,” Judge Boyle said.