Man jailed for filming girls staying in his home with hidden camera

A Cork man who installed hidden cameras to film female teenage students from overseas undressing in his family home has been jailed for three years.

The 30-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the victims, also filmed two children using public bathrooms in shopping centres.

Overall, the case involved 13 victims with the offences occurring on dates between 2011 and 2016.

Det Sgt Simon Grace told Cork Circuit Court that gardaí were contacted in 2016 by the FBI. The defendant’s filming of girls who were staying in his home had come to their attention after the images were posted online.

On July 4th, 2016, gardaí arrested the man, who admitted to producing videos of students from overseas who were staying in his home whilst they undertook courses in Ireland. The girls were primarily in the 13 to 16 age group. He also admitted to downloading explicit child abuse images from the internet.

The man subsequently pleaded guilty to 13 counts of production and distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child abuse images.

Det Sgt Grace said the man uploaded some of the videos on to the internet.

Six victim impact statements were submitted to the court. One teenage girl appeared by video link from France.

She told Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin she was shocked by what had occurred. She was stunned when police in France made her aware that she had been filmed in a state of undress without her consent whilst staying with an Irish family on a study placement.

Shocking

The court heard the man has no previous convictions. He lost his job when an anonymous call was made to his employer about the offences.

Elizabeth O’Connell, SC, representing the defendant, said that her client was fully co -perative with gardaí and remorseful for his actions. She said he had not come to the attention of gardaí since his arrest.

Judge Ó Donnabháin said the probation report suggesting a high risk of reoffending. He said it was shocking to think that the videos were not only filmed but also distributed on the dark web.

He was also cognisant of the fact that the man was charged with possession of explicit images of child abuse.

He noted the benefit of the guilty plea in the case acknowledging that it saved the State a complex and intricate investigation and trial process.

He said the man had invaded the privacy of the persons involved and that filming them in states of undress represented a massive breach of trust.

He jailed the man for six years, suspending three years of the sentence.