A man was found guilty at Waterford Circuit Court today of advertising child pornography on the internet and possessing child pornography.
Thomas Muldoon, a single man with an address at Spring Lawn, Ashley Court, Waterford, pleaded guilty to committing both offences in Co Waterford between May 6th and 7th 1999. The offences occurred when he was living in Dungarvan.
Judge Sean O’Donovan adjourned the case until July 30th for the production of a probation and welfare officer’s report and psychiatric report and for sentencing.
Muldoon, a native of Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, who worked for an insurance company at the time of the offences, was remanded in custody until that date.
Prosecuting barrister Mr Tom Teehan, BL, told the court that Det Sergeant Achin Steiger, of the German Police, was part of a unit set up to counteract child pornography on the internet.
On the morning of May 7th 1999, he accessed a pornographic website and downloaded a number of pornographic images from a user on the site.
Mr Teehan said many of the images were of a quite graphic nature involving child sexual pornography. Det Sergeant Steiger contacted the Irish police and the Garda investigation led to Muldoon.
When Gardaí established the identity of Thomas Muldoon, he was arrested and brought to Waterford Garda Station. A search warrant was obtained and the house he was living in was searched.
Gardaí took away a computer and other associated material, which included a CD-rom that was found to have images of a child pornographic nature. A total of 241 child pornography images were found on the hard disc of his computer.
On the eve of the last court hearing in Waterford, Gardaí further examined the hard drive and found several hundred more child pornography images. These had been password-protected.
In a statement made at Dungarvan Garda Station on June 20th 1999, Muldoon said he had done the wrong thing and had absolutely no interest in child pornography.