Castlebar man gets suspended jail term for possessing and distributing child porn
Castlebar Courthouse. Photo: Alison Laredo
A Castlebar man who distributed child pornography has been given a suspended jail sentence.
Aidan Coughlan, Castlehill Park, Castlebar, pleaded guilty at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court to possessing 117 images and videos of child pornography on online storage accounts and distributing child pornography.
The court had previously heard that the 35-year-old was arrested after the Garda National Protective Services Bureau contacted local gardaí on August 4, 2017, regarding child pornography that had been found on a Dropbox account registered under the name and personal email of the defendant. Coughlan admitted to uploading, viewing and distributing child pornography.
The case was adjourned last October for Coughlan to complete the Safer Lives programme but this cannot be done until his case is finalised.
Defending barrister Diarmuid Connolly said his client is working in a tech job creating passports and other documents. Mr Connolly said his client is "remorseful and ashamed" of what he had done and was relieved to have been detected by Gardaí. Over six years have passed since he was detected and he has given Gardaí no further issues.
Imposing a suspended prison sentence of two years and eight months, Judge Eoin Garavan said he was concerned to read in the probation report that Coughlan became disinterested in viewing adult pornography and began viewing child pornography because of its "taboo" that made it "new and different".
“There are potentially hundreds of victims in this case,” said the judge.
