A FORMER secondary school vice-principal caught with child pornography on his home computer has had his sentencing adjourned to allow for the preparation of a probation report.
Tony Canniffe (61) had earlier pleaded guilty at Cork District Court to possession of child pornography at his home at Rosegarth, Donnybrook, Douglas, Cork on October 16th, 2008.
Last month, Det Garda Martin Hogan of the Computer Crime Unit at Harcourt Square told how he had found child pornography images both on Canniffe’s computer and a flash card.
Investigators classify child pornography on a scale of one to five depending on how the children are dressed, positioned and what acts they are being forced to perform, said Det Garda Hogan.
He found some 289 images at level two where young girls aged four to 12 years were naked and exposing their genitalia when he examined the files on Canniffe’s computer. He also found some six files at level four where young children aged between six and 12 years were engaged in oral sex or penetrative sex, Det Garda Hogan told the court.
He also found images on a flashcard that can be used to take photographs but he was satisfied Canniffe had simply been using the card as a USB chip to store images.
Yesterday Judge Con O’Leary noted that English guidelines recommended that anyone caught with level four child pornography images should be jailed for six to 12 months. He said that Canniffe seemed to blame his employers for treating him unfairly and the fact that he was hit in school as the reasons why he began accessing the child porn sites.
Judge O’Leary said he had read a number of articles in journals by experts and, if they were right, Canniffe was failing utterly to address the origins of the matter and would reoffend.
He added he was very concerned over Canniffe’s apparent belief that the offences weren’t that serious because he had not paid for the child pornography.
“A cynical view might be that he didn’t think he was going to be caught because he wasn’t paying,” said Judge O’Leary, noting Canniffe knew the images were “unlawful and abusive”.
And he pointed out that while Canniffe may not have paid for the images, he was nonetheless creating a market for those producing such images and helping them to satisfy their aims.
Canniffe’s barrister, Sinead Behan, said Canniffe was treating the matter very seriously and had gone for counselling immediately it came to light and had since attended a second therapist in Cork.
Canniffe had “a deep sense of personal shame at his wrongdoing” and had moved to Scotland in an attempt to give himself and his family a fresh start. He had gone for counselling there with an expert and was attending a treatment centre in Glasgow.
Judge O’Leary adjourned the matter to see if progress could be made in obtaining a probation report.