Man who distributed 13 images of child abuse material also had thousands of images in his possession
Eimear Dodd
A man who distributed 13 images of child abuse material also had thousands of images in his possession, a court has heard.
Lucas Valadares (42) was handed a 15-month prison sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after pleading guilty to one count of distribution of child sexual abuse material, known in law as child pornography.
A further charge of possession of child sexual abuse material was also taken into consideration.
An investigating garda outlined that an investigation started in 2018 following a report in relation to online child exploitation.
A Google account, email and telephone number linked to Valadares were identified.
His home was searched on September 25th, 2018, and a number of items seized, including a laptop and mobile phones.
Analysis identified abuse material on four devices and over 5,300 images and videos were found on the devices. These included child exposure, sexually explicit content involving adults and young children and animation images.
Evidence was heard that messages in a WhatsApp group on one of the Valadares's phones indicated likeminded individuals interested in this material who shared the content.
The court was told that it is the State's case that the images and videos were made available to be shared with third parties, with Valadares distributing a total of 13 images in two instances.
Valadares admitted he was under investigation and said there was a “fair amount” of child sexual abuse material and gore pictures in Facebook messages to his former partner.
Valadares, of Castlefield Woods, Clonsilla, Dublin 15, was arrested in November 2021, but nothing of evidential value was obtained when he was interviewed.
The investigating garda agreed with Michael Hourigan SC, defending, that there were delays and his client was charged in 2024. It was also accepted that Valadares initially took a trial date with his solicitor indicating at that time to the Director of Public Prosecutions that he would plead guilty.
Valadares entered a guilty plea five months later. He has no previous convictions and has not come to recent garda attention.
Mr Hourigan submitted that these cases “appear to take a long time due to limited garda resources” and asked that the court to take into account any delays in this case were not caused by his client.
He said his client's involvement was not sophisticated, and noted that material in the WhatsApp messages would have saved to his phone, rather than Valadares seeking it out.
Valadares moved to Ireland from Brazil over 20 years and has a steady work history. His relationship broke down as a result of his offending.
Judge Martin Nolan said that possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material is a “serious matter” and brings the case “out of the non-custodial end of sentencing”.
He noted that there was a delay, caused in small part by the defendant, but “most of it was caused by a lack of resources” for the garda investigation.
Having considered the mitigation, he imposed a sentence of 15 months.
