Man intercepted on way to have sex with boy (14), court told

A 29-year old man was intercepted by gardaí on his way to a hotel to have sex with a boy last Monday, a court heard.

The accused man was arrested at 9am on Tuesday, and brought before Limerick District Court on Wednesday night.

He is charged with sexually exploiting a child, contrary to Section 3 of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act.

The offence is alleged to have happened on a date between January 3rd, 2015, and February 10th, this year.

During a lengthy bail application the man broke down and informed the court his family were not aware he had been arrested.

Garda Fiona O'Connell alleged, that within a week of befriending the boy on social media applications, Tinder and Snapchat, the man had sent the boy "provocative images and videos of himself masturbating".

She further alleged, that following a Garda forensic examination of the man’s phone, it was found to contain “disturbing videos involving another young male whose identify was unknown”.

Garda O’Connell said she believed this video had been downloaded from the Internet.

She also alleged gardaí found 56 naked images “of the boy at the centre of this investigation”, on a second phone belonging to the accused.

Three phones belonging to the man, and a mobile phone belonging to the boy, are currently the subject of an ongoing forensic examination.

Garda O’Connell said it was her belief that the boy was “coerced into sending images of himself to the accused”.

She alleged the man had “booked a hotel room” for last Monday, May 9th, and also on February 13th this year, to meet the boy for sex, but these meetings did not take place.

Garda O’Connell alleged the man travelled to the county where the boy resides, last Monday, but he was “intercepted by gardaí” at a checkpoint.

The Garda traffic stop was put in place after gardaí received a complaint from the boy’s mother, the court heard.

Objecting to bail, Garda O’Connell said her “main concern” was that she believed the man would “interfere and continue to contact the injured party through social media”.

Seeking bail, the man gave a sworn oath he would not contact the injured party.

“I won’t, 100 per cent... I’m not going to risk it getting any worse than it already is,” he told Judge Marian O’Leary.

“This is an embarrassing situation,” he added.

The man also undertook to stay away from social media applications Tinder and Snapchat and have his mobile phone monitored by gardaí.

The court prohibited the media from reporting the identities of the parties involved, as well as locations heard in evidence.

Further charges are expected to be brought against the man at a later date, gardai told the court.

Judge O’Leary said she was “leaning” towards granting bail. Hhowever she reserved her position on the application, and remanded the accused in custody, to appear before the court again on Thursday morning.