Boy, 15, had 'extreme' child abuse material

A man was found to be in possession of extreme child sexual abuse material after he reported a ‘sextortion’ attempt to Gardaí.

The 22-year-old, who cannot be named as he was 15 at the time of the offence, appeared before a sitting of Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court for sentencing last week. The case previously came before the court on March 3rd last with the accused entering a guilty plea on the second day of his trial.

The investigation centred on a video which was classed as Category One child sexual abuse material.

The court heard that on June 6, 2018, the accused was online on his mother’s laptop when he opened a video link that contained malware which took control of the computer. He was unable to remove the virus from the laptop and received a number of instructions which popped up on the screen from the person responsible for the malware.

The message ‘Have you figured out how to leave yet?’ showed up on the screen, which the accused had to click ‘Yes or No’ to.

Further messages followed which read ‘Not a wise choice my friend’ and ‘Boy, did you pick the wrong answer'. The computer screen then filled with icons and notifications calling him a paedophile, along with images of spiders before the screen turned red.

The defendant told his mother that he had been hacked and the matter was reported to Gardaí. The laptop was handed over to Gardaí but because of a backlog it was not examined by the Garda Cybercrime Bureau until 2021.

Investigation of the laptop revealed a Skype chat between the then 15-year-old defendant and the hacker who was purporting to be a girl called Linda Forest. Videos and images of a sexually explicit nature were shared during this chat.

Gardaí believed what followed was a sextortion attempt which would threaten the distribution of private or sexual images or videos as a form of blackmail. The computer was infected with malware as soon as the accused clicked on a video link sent to him by ‘Linda Forest’.

While investigating the malware attack, Gardaí discovered a video file stored in the recycle bin of the laptop. This video had been accessed by the accused two months before the laptop was hacked and was not connected to the sextortion incident.

The seven-minute video showed two young boys aged 10 or 11. They were engaged in sexual activity throughout the video. The boys performed sexual acts on each other, and a third adult male was also visible. The adult man received oral sex from one of the boys and anally raped one of the children.

“The video is on the extreme side of Category One,” said the investigating garda.

The officer said the file was easily accessible and moved to the recycle bin by the defendant on April 9, 2018.

The man was arrested on February 15, 2022. When interviewed he made no admissions and denied downloading child sexual abuse material. The 22-year old has no previous convictions.

Senior counsel Barry White said his client had health issues from an early age and became “somewhat isolated from society". He is deemed to be at low risk of re-offending.

Mr White said the defendant could have been initially dealt with under the Juvenile Liaison Scheme. However, his mother was not "au fait" with this process when she received a phone call from Gardaí and the scheme was not taken up.

Judge Eoin Garavan said the graphic nature of the video was an aggravating factor in the case, adding that the two boys in the video “will be traumatised by this appalling incident". He said the boys were treated like “sex slaves” by their abusers.

“These are never victimless crimes,” the judge commented.

Judge Garavan said the man has never given an explanation as to how the video ended up on the laptop. However, the judge noted there was no evidence that the defendant shared or forwarded the material.

“He did not spread the evil that footage represents.” 

Judge Garavan said there were also considerable mitigating factors in the case. He said the defendant’s own actions led to his prosecution and he does not believe a “grievous mistake” should define the rest of his life.

“I don’t wish to stigmatise this man forever for a mistake at 15,” the judge added.

Judge Garavan opted to apply Section 100 of the Criminal Justice Act which provides the legal basis for a deferred sentence. This provides the person convicted of an offence with a chance to avoid imprisonment.

The judge imposed 100 hours of community service in lieu of two months in prison.

The case was adjourned until November 7 to determine the man’s suitability for community service.