Two years’ probation for child pornography offences

A separated father who began viewing child pornography after he was sent a link while watching adult pornography online has been placed on a two-year probation bond.

Gerard O’Neill (66) had to sell his Dublin home after it was attacked by a large group when his criminal behaviour became public. His home was searched by gardaí­ in May 2015 following what Diana Stuart, prosecuting, described as “reliable information”.

Garda Michelle McGuinness said a laptop, hard drive and two CDs were taken from O’Neill’s home. He was subsequently arrested in March 2018 after 225 videos of child pornography were found.

O’Neill, who is now living in hostel accommodation but previously lived at Deerpark Road, Kiltipper Way, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possessing child pornography videos and distributing videos of child pornography at his home on dates between April 15th and May 13th, 2015. He has no previous convictions .

Judge Melanie Greally placed O’Neill on two years’ probation and ordered that he attend a sex-offender treatment programme. The judge also ordered that he not contact any child under 18 except in the presence of their parent or guardian.

Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, defending, said his client regretted his actions. It was stated in a report that “loneliness, curiosity and sexual attraction to males” were the factors that O’Neill claimed led him to view the videos. He was described as a vulnerable man who has “low self-esteem and low self-worth”.

A letter of apology from O’Neill stated: “I assure you I will never repeat this behaviour in the future”.

Previous hearing 

At an earlier sentence hearing the court heard that in addition to the 225 videos a chat conversation, during which one video of child pornography was shared, was also retrieved from O’Neill’s computer equipment.

Garda McGuinness accepted under questioning that he later had to sell his home and O’Neill felt he sold it at “an incredible loss because of the damage caused to the property”. Garda McGuinness agreed with counsel that the distributing offence was “at the lowest end of the scale”.

The court also heard that O’Neill had been separated since 2000. He was still in contact with his younger two children at the time of his arrest, but had not been in contact with them since.

Counsel said when his client first viewed the link that had been sent to him, he was shocked “but while under the influence of alcohol, he viewed and downloaded the files”. Counsel added that it did not appear that O’Neill “went looking for it in the first instance”.