Man who had thousands of images of child sex abuse on phones and laptops is jailed

A man who has been repeatedly caught with child pornography has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that one of the images on a device seized from David McGrath (31) depicted an infant child in diapers being sexually abused while “hog tied” with electrical tape.

McGrath has two previous convictions for possession of child pornography from 2017.

McGrath, aged 31, of Desmond Street, South Circular Road, Dublin 8 pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography at his home, on December 30, 2018 and December 16, 2020.

Passing sentence on Friday, Judge Elma Duffy said it was aggravating that offences took place while he was still on the sex offenders register for the previous offences in 2017.

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Judge Duffy said looking at a probation report prepared for the court, there did seem to be remorse and shame as well as some form of realisation and a shift in attitude towards his behaviour. She noted that McGrath has accepted responsibility for his actions and there is a commitment to prevent future offending.

The judge noted from the report he had experienced his own difficulties at a young age and that his family will continue to support him although that is a difficult task.

She said that in the absence of a change in behaviour McGrath will continue committing “horrendous offences”, continue being caught and serving terms in custody.

Judge Duffy said the pain and impact of the offending on others was huge. She imposed consecutive sentences totalling eight-and-a-half years and suspended the final three years for six years on strict conditions including that he remain under supervision.

The conditions include engaging with the Probation Service and any therapy required. He must tell the gardai at all times what devices he has in his possession and provide their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers and IP addresses, as well as permitting gardai to review them on an unannounced basis.

During a sentencing hearing, Detective Garda Sarah Keogh told David Perry BL, prosecuting, that gardai carried out a search at McGrath’s home on foot of certain information and seized a laptop belonging to him.

This was examined and 1,730 images constituting child sexual abuse material were found.

The court heard 708 images were in “category 1” depicting very young children, between the ages of 1 and 8 years old, engaged in or witnessing sexual activity including masturbation, oral sex or anal or vaginal penetration.

A further 1,022 images depicted children of a similar age with their genital or anal areas exposed.

McGrath was arrested and interviewed and he was released without charge at that point.

Gardai again searched McGrath’s home in December 2020. They asked if he knew why they were there and he replied: “Yes, the same thing as before.”

Garda seized a phone and laptop and were provided with password by McGrath.

The devices were analysed and 445 illegal images were found on the laptop, with 97 in category 1 and 348 in category 2. Most of the images depicted children under the age of 5 with a large percentage of them involving children under the age of two years old.

Gardai found just over 2,200 such images on the smartphone, with 695 images in category 1 and the remainder in category 2. These images depicted children from infants up to ten years old.

McGrath has two previous convictions for possession of child pornography imposed at Gorey District Court in 2018. He received a suspended sentence but was subject to the requirements of the sex offenders register for five years.

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A garda witness agreed with Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC, defending, that McGrath had always engaged with his nominated person in the gardai letting them know where he was during the time he was on the register.

Mr Ó Dúnlaing handed a psychologist’s report in to court. He said the report outlined that while McGrath was assessed at high risk of re-offending, he was beginning to display insight into his behaviour and beginning to engage positively overall, as well as re-engaging in therapy.

He asked the court to take into account his guilty pleas. He submitted this offending had become “normalised” as far as McGrath was concerned, noting this was an explanation not an excuse.

He also handed in a letter of apology from McGrath and letters from his family. His family indicate they will support him in getting therapy. He said McGrath had a diagnosis of autism.

Counsel asked the court to consider setting a headline sentence and instead of reducing that after mitigation, to instead suspend a portion to take account of mitigation.

He suggested a number of conditions of the suspension relating to devices and supervision.

He said there should be a structure available for McGrath on release so he does not reoffend and it should be mandatory for him to work with The Probation Service.

Mr Ó Dúnlaing said the offences were “foul, disgusting and reprehensible” and it was in McGrath’s and society’s best interests that he stops accessing this material.