A FORMER Garda sergeant attempted to pay prostitutes to get children as young as five for sex a year after he had been released for a similar offence, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has heard. Kieran O’Halloran (48) offered two prostitutes up to €10,000 to find the children and asked one to organise “three or four children in a hotel room” for him to have sex with.
O’Halloran pleaded guilty to inciting the women “to organise or knowingly facilitate the use of a child for the purpose of sexual exploitation” in October 2005 and April 2006.
Gardaí began investigating him after one of the prostitutes tipped them off because she was disgusted by the requests.
O’Halloran, Liffey Court, Clane, Co Kildare, and Westminster Park, Foxrock, Co Dublin, was jailed for three years in 2003 for an almost identical offence and a 20-year post-release supervision order was also imposed.
Judge Katherine Delahunt asked to know how much interaction he had had with the probation service following his original release. She adjourned sentencing until March so gardaí could interview probation officers about their supervision of O’Halloran.
Det Sgt Kevin Daly told Fergal Foley, prosecuting, that O’Halloran went to a brothel in Dublin city in October 2005. He asked a prostitute to get him an eight or nine-year-old girl. He offered her €1,000 for every one she could get him. He also asked her what was the youngest girl she could get and said he would like to get three or four children in a hotel room.
Before he left he claimed he wasn’t serious about the request but later phoned the woman a number of times repeating it. The woman was “disgusted” and saved O’Halloran’s phone number under “pervert” before giving it to gardaí.
She made a detailed statement and an identification parade was organised but she was unable to pick him out.
Gardaí were forced to release him but continued monitoring his mobile phone.
In March 2006, O’Halloran visited another prostitute after reading her advertisement in a magazine.
He asked her to get him girls from eight years old but “no older than 11” because he wanted an “innocent face”.
He wanted the prostitute to show them how to give him oral sex before leaving him alone with them. He asked her if she had any friends with young children and said he liked to watch girls as they leave school.
He also suggested he had visited other countries such a Thailand to abuse children.
He later sent her several text messages repeating his request but this time offering her €10,000 for a “five- or six-year-old child.” He also requested a picture of a naked newborn baby.
O’Halloran visited her again in April and this time brought a child pornography DVD with him which he showed to the prostitute and her partner. It featured an Asian girl, about 12 years old, performing oral sex on men. He told them: “That’s what I like, deep throat with girls like that.”
He visited her a third time that month and again requested a girl under 13 to have sex with. Since the first incident in October, gardaí had been monitoring his phone traffic and were able to track down the prostitute, who made a full statement.
Gardaí arrested O’Halloran in June 2006 and searched his Kildare home but found nothing of relevance. Det Sgt Doyle said he was co-operative and admitted visiting the women but said he never intended to harm any children and that it was part of a “sexual fantasy”.
O’Halloran was in the Garda for 22 years and held a command post for 12 months in Croatia while working for the United Nations. Det Sgt Boyle said he had been “exemplary” in his role but resigned when the initial charges came to light in 2001.
Luan Ó Braonáin SC, defending, denied that his client ever travelled abroad for child abuse and said gardaí could find no evidence of such travel. He said O’Halloran was a recovering alcoholic who had been abused as a child.
Referring to the 20-year post-release supervision, Mr Ó Braonáin said: “Whether the regime was sufficient in its monitoring are questions I don’t have the answer to.” He noted his probation report stated he was at a “huge risk of reoffending”.
Det Insp Paul Mulloy gave evidence that O’Halloran had some contact with the probation service following his release in 2004 but he did not know how much.