A 45-YEAR-OLD man downloaded images of children as young as four being raped and abused in a “horrendous fashion” a court has heard.
Simeon Betts of Church Road, Raheen, Limerick, downloaded 50 movies and nine images of child pornography on three laptop computers.
At his sentencing hearing at Limerick Circuit Court yesterday, Judge Carroll Moran was told Betts had borrowed one of the laptops from a 13-year-old boy who saw some of the images when the computer was returned to him.
Investigating Garda Christine Bergin told the court the level of depravity involved was at the “utmost end of the scale”.
On one of the computers there were a number of search terms, which indicated that Betts, who is from the UK, had been actively looking up child pornography.
Garda Bergin said the images involved the “horrendous exploitation of children”.
Acting on information from Interpol and the UK-based Child Protection and Online Exploitation Centre gardaí in Limerick searched Betts’s home, his workplace and another address that he had access to in March, 2010.
Betts pleaded guilty to knowingly having in his possession child pornography that included nine images and 50 moving picture files in his home in Limerick on March 4th, 2010.
He initially denied downloading any images but, after a number of experts were called in to assist in the investigation, he made full admissions following his arrest in July 2010.
In one interview with gardaí, he admitted he had been sexually aroused while viewing the child pornography images.
He also told gardaí it was a “means to satisfy my desire”, the court heard.
The court also heard that Betts had borrowed one of the laptops seized during the search from a 13-year-old boy.
The teenager told gardaí that when he got his computer back there was a folder on it containing images of children and he informed his mother.
In her evidence Garda Bergin said the average age of the children in the images was eight to 10 years, but she said some of them were as young as four.
The court heard that Betts is now unemployed but that he had previously worked in a card shop and at an Early Learning Centre store.
The judge was told that the accused has since lost his job and only has restricted access to his children.
He said it was a “difficult case” and adjourned sentencing until June 8th.