Prison warning for man with child sexual abuse material
The defendant pleaded guilty to the charges.
A Mayo man who was found in possession of child sexual abuse material on two mobile phones has been told he will be jailed if he does not make efforts to address the underlying issues that caused his offending.
Shane Gormley, aged 45, of Manulla, Castlebar, pleaded guilty to the offences when he appeared before Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court last week.
In October 2021, Gardaí in Mayo were contacted by An Garda Síochána's Online Child Sexual Exploitation Unit in relation to activity on a social media messenger account. The email on the account was traced to Gormley.
On October 4, 2021, a search warrant was obtained. When officers first went to Gormley’s home he was not there, but they travelled to his then workplace in Westport where he handed over a mobile phone. Gardaí later returned to his home where a search was carried out.
One mobile phone contained four images and 14 videos that were deemed category one (sexual activity involving a child) child sexual abuse material and four category two (child exposure) images.
A second device contained 39 videos and three images classed as category one and also a category two video.
Gormley made partial admissions when interviewed. He admitted to messaging with people on the social media account about sex and told Gardaí some of the material was privately messaged to him while others were in a chatroom.
The court was told the defendant has six previous convictions, mostly for road traffic matters.
Senior counsel Desmond Dockery said his client has an “addiction and deep-seated problem".
Judge Eoin Garavan adjourned sentencing until March 5, 2026.
In the interim, he ordered Gormley to undertake the Safer Lives Programme, seek counselling and attend his GP for a mental health review.
The judge warned that a custodial sentence will follow if Gormley does not make any attempt to “get on top of those things", telling the defendant it was “time to get up off the couch” if he wants to avoid jail.
- Published as part of the Court Reporting Scheme.
