Man confronted in Cork by vigilante group over alleged online child grooming

Vigilantes stream video of 'sting' confrontation with man who, they say, was trying to arrange to meet children aged 11 and 13

The self-styled child protection vigilante group confronted the man who they accuse of sending sexually explicit material to people that he believed to be children, and of seeking to meet one of them at City Hall and at the city's bus station. Picture: Denis Minihane

Gardaí in Cork say “enquiries are ongoing” after members of a self-styled online child protection vigilante group confronted a man on the city’s northside about allegedly grooming children online.

Members of the Northern Ireland-based group confronted the man, who is in his 60s, in a housing estate on Saturday.

The sting operation was streamed live online. A video of the interaction lasts for just over 45 minutes.

In it, a man wearing a black vest branded with the group’s initials can be heard identifying himself as a member of the vigilante group. He says he has driven from Belfast with other members to confront the man about his alleged online interaction with children.

Vigilante group's claims

The group leader claims the man has at least three Facebook profiles and that he has in his possession copies of the man’s online chat history with what he believed were two children, one aged 11 and the other aged 12. They were decoys.

He shows the man copies of the chat history and says one of the ‘girls’ told him she was 11, and that the man claimed he was a 13-year-old boy.

The vigilante continues to question the man about how many children he has been engaging with online, and asks what kind of sexual gratification he gets out of talking in such a way to children.

The vigilante claims to have explicit photographs of the man that he claims were sent to at least one of the children — 17 sexually explicit photographs and 13 sexually explicit videos were sent to one of the children, he claims.

The vigilante alleges that the man they are confronting made various posts attempting to meet one of the children at City Hall and at the city’s bus station.

The man says he never met any of the children, that he has only been engaged in this activity for a matter of weeks, and he apologises for his online activity.

However, the vigilante calls the man a “paedophile” and a “filthy bastard” and says: 

I’ve just fucking turned your wee world upside down and do you know why I’m so happy? 'Cos you want to fucking rape innocent kids.

“We don’t like people who prey on children. 

"We protect children from scum like you.”

Neighbours express concern 

Neighbours of the man who overhear the confrontation can be heard in the background expressing concern.

The vigilante says the man’s online activity has been monitored for some time by a group in the UK, and that their activity led to the “sting operation”.

Members of the group retrieve a number of devices from the man’s house and leave them outside for the gardaí, who arrive at the scene. 

Gardaí intervene

Gardaí intervene and remove from the man from the scene a short time later.

Gardaí were asked if a man had been arrested arising out of this sting incident.

In a statement, a garda spokesman said gardaí attached to Watercourse Rd Garda Station are “aware of an incident” that occurred at about 9.30pm on Saturday. 

“Enquiries are ongoing into the matter, at this time,” they stated.