Mayo man distributed 'depraved' child sexual abuse material

A former HSE manager has pleaded guilty to the possession and distribution of “depraved” child sexual abuse images and photographs.

Peter O’Malley, aged 47, of Hawthorn Place, Ballinrobe faced 36 charges when he appeared before Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court last week. He pleaded guilty to one count of causing a child to watch sexual activity, two counts of using information technology to facilitate the exploitation of a child, three counts of possession of child pornography and four counts of distribution of child pornography.

Originally from The Neale, O’Malley used the online platform Kik to access and share child pornography.

Det Gda Paula Griffin told the court that An Garda Síochána was sent an intelligence pack from the FBI in Philadelphia on May 18, 2021, after they had monitored O’Malley’s activity on the social media app called Kik.

O’Malley was identified as being an administrator on a private chatroom on the app where child abuse material was being shared. Users had to send three videos or five images of child-explicit material to O’Malley to gain entry to the private group. He had been operating under the online handle ‘Pat No One’ and an IP address, emails, and telephone number linked to the Kik account were traced back to O’Malley.

On October 4, 2021, Gardaí searched O’Malley’s home and seized a number of electronic devices and a work phone belonging to the HSE. His personal phone contained 128,791 images of which approximately 70% were of a pornographic nature, legal and illegal. The phone contained 249 images of child sexual abuse material, including 62 images of category 1 and 44 images of category 2 content.

The category 1 images included content of children from three to 17 years engaged in sexual activity or witnessing it. The images showed sexual abuse of children which included oral sex performed on children, children performing oral sex on adult males, children performing sexual acts, vaginal intercourse with children and anal intercourse with children.

Some of the children were visibly crying or screaming in the images. The images featured individual adult males and multiple adult males.

The category 2 images included material in which children’s genitals were exposed. The children's ages ranged from three years to teenagers.

Gardaí discovered more than 10,000 deleted Kik conversations between December 2019 and April 2021, including 30 conversations involving O'Malley that contained illegal material. He was engaged in group chats where child-explicit material was exchanged and he shared material with other users.

The court heard some of the images O’Malley exchanged were extremely graphic and of extreme depravity with serious sexual abuse being carried out. He indicated in many of these chats that his preference was for pre-pubescent children. O’Malley was the initiator in most of the conversations recovered.

In one conversation with another user, who claimed to have an eight-year-old child, O’Malley discussed his fantasy of having sex with the girl. He asked another fellow user if he could have sex with their 12-year-old daughter, saying he would like to “force f***” his daughter. He told someone else on the app that he wanted to abuse the user’s two-year-old baby.

The court heard O’Malley knowingly engaged in five online conversations with children from Ireland who were aged 15 and 13. He sought photos and told one of the girls that he “loved seeing young p***y”. The accused suggested to another teenager that they could have sex in a hotel or his car.

O’Malley has no previous convictions. He gave Gardaí no explanation for his offending.

The court heard the defendant qualified as an orthotist in the UK and worked for the NHS and in the private sector before returning to Ireland in 2010. He started working as an orthotist with the HSE in 2015 and was later appointed to a managerial role. The court heard he played a key role in establishing Covid-19 vaccination centres in Castlebar and Roscommon.

O’Malley was suspended by the HSE in February 2022 when they became aware of his crimes. He formally resigned from the HSE in June 2024.

Senior counsel Desmond Dockery, representing O’Malley, said his client “fell into a pit of darkness". O’Malley had been engaged to be married but that relationship ended around Christmas 2019.

The barrister said the accused became isolated during the Covid-19 pandemic and began drinking excessively. While not an alcoholic, O’Malley’s “guardrails were lowered” as a result of his drinking. Mr Dockery said the accused first turned to adult pornography as a distraction but then “fell deeper and deeper into a dark place".

The court heard he became fixated with and addicted to the Kik app.

Judge Eoin Garavan said there was “shocking material” in the case and he would require time to reflect “slightly coldly and objectively” before finalising matters. He remanded O'Malley in custody and adjourned the case until November 25th next.