A 55-year-old private grinds teacher who introduced young boys to cannabis and pornography and sexually abused them while recording the abuse on video has received a suspended four-year sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Judge Desmond Hogan, who made an order last October prohibiting the publication of the man's identity, said the only reason he was resisting the temptation to impose a custodial sentence was the fact that the man was looking after his 92-year-old mother.
Judge Hogan imposed strict conditions on the suspension of the sentence including prohibiting him from possessing a computer, and from using any intoxicating substance including cannabis.
He is also not to engage in any form of employment that would bring him into contact with young children, without prior approval of the probation and welfare services. The conditions are to last for five years, the period for which the sentence is suspended.
At the last hearing, in October last year, the 55-year-old man pleaded guilty to one count of gross indecency on a male person under the age of 17 between March 19th, 1995 and June 7th, 1995.
He admitted possession of child pornography in the form of a video cassette of himself engaging in oral sex on a young child and a postcard of a naked male adult exposing his genitals to three boys. He also admitted possession of cannabis resin on February 8th, 2002.
Mr Patrick Gageby SC, defending, pleaded for leniency because his client was the sole carer for his 92-year-old mother and was in great ill-health. He had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and outlined in great detail his involvement when he was questioned by the gardai
Garda Det Sgt Gerald Feeney had told Mr Paul Burns, prosecuting, that when gardaí raided the man's north Dublin home they found a "minor cinema" in his attic with a camera and television set up and over 900 videos.
About 300 of the videos were of gay pornography, while most of the remainder were described as straight porn. The gardaí also discovered a quantity of cannabis resin in the house and a number of sexually explicit sketches and postcards of naked men exposing their genitals to young boys.
Garda Feeney said the man gave the drugs to boys when giving private lessons and made them watch the videos. Gardaí seized videos of him performing indecent acts on young boys and he gave them three names of victims to gardaí. Only one of them was willing to speak to the gardaí.
He said the accused became very nervous and upset during the search but later outlined the extent of his involvement. He said he developed a fondness for cannabis while visiting Amsterdam a number of years ago. He said he didn't sell it but gave it out free to young boys because he enjoyed their company.
He said he bought pornographic videos of young boys from a man he met in a sex shop near Dublin city centre.
Det Sgt Feeney said the accused taught maths and junior science in two different schools for a number of years. However, he started teaching grinds full time after he was forced to retire because he developed progressive deafness. He had since been diagnosed as an alcoholic and a manic depressive.