A father of five who had 71 pornographic images and videos of girls aged from four to 14 on his computer has been given a suspended sentence.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Hugh Maguire (54) downloaded the “disgusting” images in the year following his elderly mother’s death. He had previously quit his job to care for her. Maguire, of Grace O’Malley Road, Howth, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography at his home on March 5th, 2009.
Judge Martin Nolan said Maguire “lapsed into child pornography because of loneliness” and noted he had led “a very lonely life”. He imposed a 30-month sentence and suspended it in full, saying “justice would not be served” by jailing Maguire.
Det Garda Martin Hogan, an expert in computer forensics, had told Kerida Naidoo, prosecuting, that he examined the computer found at Maguire’s home and found 69 images of child pornography.
These included 59 images of girls aged between four and 14, posing naked, and 10 other images showed girls of a similar age range being sexually assaulted.
Det Garda Hogan said he also found two files containing video footage of naked girls aged between 10 and 14. He said he believed the images had been downloaded over a nine-month period and that they could not have ended up on the computer accidentally.
Garda Sgt Gary Kelly said Maguire told him he had not gone looking for the material and had only been searching for adult pornography.