A Galway electrician who used his credit card to buy child pornography on the Internet from a US porn site, was given a suspended six-month sentence and fined €1,500 at Galway District Court yesterday.
Imposing the suspended sentence, Judge John Garavan said he believed the accused had paedophiliac tendencies but had pleaded guilty, had not distributed the images he had purchased to others and in comparison to similar cases coming before the courts, the amount and type of material involved was not as serious.
Mr Conor Molloy (26), Ballinasloe, Co Galway, with an address at Cuirt na Trá, Salthill, Galway, had pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on May 27th last, contrary to Section 6 (1) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998. He was arrested during Operation Amethyst, the countrywide Garda clampdown on child pornography, which took place in a series of dawn raids on private houses and business premises last May.
Sgt Coppinger said he was satisfied the images were for Mr Molloy's own use and he had not printed them or e-mailed them to anyone else. The credit card purchase had been made in April, 1999.
Det Hogan said he had investigated over 50 similar cases in the last ten months and in his opinion this case would be very minor compared to other investigations. The judge said the case merited a suspended sentence.
He then imposed a six-month sentence, suspended for two years, on Mr Molloy's own surety of €5,000.
He placed the accused on the Register of Sex Offenders for five years and fined him €1,500. The fine, Judge Garavan said, was to bring home to the accused the distaste with which this kind of offence must be held.