Suspended jail sentence for Mayo man who downloaded 101 images and videos of child abuse

A Mayo man who downloaded 101 images and videos of child sexual abuse material has received a suspended prison sentence.

Peter Murphy, aged 27, of Carnalecka, Ballinrobe, pleaded guilty to the offending when he appeared before Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court.

Detective Garda Damien Ryder told the court that gardaí were alerted that Murphy had downloaded the material via the Dropbox online platform.

On October 4, 2022, a search warrant was obtained for his home. A laptop was seized and 74 images and 24 videos of child sexual abuse material was discovered on the device.

Witness told the court that some of the material found included a two-minute video of two girls, aged approximately eight and 11 years old, with the older child performing a sex act on the younger girl.

Another video lasting one minute and 29 seconds shows a boy, aged approximately five years old being forced to perform a sex act on an adult woman. An image of a four-year-old girl with her genitals exposed was also recovered on the laptop.

Of the material found, 36 images and 14 videos were deemed to be category one (where children are engaged in or witnessing explicit sexual activity).

A further 25 images and 13 videos were classed as category two (child exposure) and 13 images of an anime or cartoon variety were classified as category three.

Murphy has no previous convictions. He suffers from dyspraxia, depression and has been diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and autism.

The court heard Murphy has a tendency to “obsessively download material from the internet."

There was no evidence of any of the illegal material being shared or distributed.

Detective Garda Sean Ryan took the court though a technical report on what was discovered on the laptop.

He stated when the material was downloaded, Murphy then created four folders and moved images and videos into the folders.

Shortcuts were created on his desktop and the folders were named ‘Look up and delete’, ‘Don’t touch stuff, seriously don’t touch’, ‘Bad files’, and ‘EU Safe’. Some of the folders were subsequently deleted by Murphy.

Gardaí also examined a Jump List (a digital footprint) on the device which showed videos and images being accessed on four occasions before being sent to the recycle bin on the device.

The court heard the offending before the court occurred during a four-week period between July 8 and August 8, 2021.

Senior counsel Conall McCarthy, representing Murphy, said it was not a lengthy period of offending and it occurred during Covid-19 when his client was particularly isolated. He said Murphy would “obsessively download” items from the internet and went into a “dark hole’ during this period.

Mr. McCarthy contended that his client’s actions were “crude and unsophisticated” and argued his offending was at the lower end of the scale. He said Murphy has the “full suite of neurodivergent conditions” and is a “bit of a loner".

Judge Eoin Garavan remarked that while it is a ‘sad case’, he pointed out that the “real victims are the children who were used and abused” in the material.

The judge remarked that one of the videos discovered showed the rape of a 12-year-old girl.

“This is seriously damaging and graphic material of an egregious nature,” he commented.

Judge Garavan noted that Murphy has a “host of difficulties” and said he believed he would be a “very poor candidate for a custodial sentence."

He imposed an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for a period of two years.

*Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.