A Dublin garda has pleaded guilty to the possession of 23 images of child pornography at his home in Raheny last year.
Garda Conor Brough admitted downloading the offending images contrary to the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998.
Dublin District Court was told yesterday that an investigation into Garda Brough (43), of Wade's Avenue, Raheny, who served at Santry Garda station, arose following a complaint last year by his estranged wife.
Det Sgt Peter Kenny, of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI), told the court that he seized a computer hard disk and two zip disks during a search of the defendant's home on July 9th, 2002.
He said the defendant was co-operative, and had said he had exclusive access to the equipment. Garda Brough also agreed he had downloaded and saved the pornographic images, although he initially did not accept they involved child pornography.
The detective said he understood Garda Brough's estranged wife made the complaint, alleging that her husband had threatened her with a firearm.
Det Sgt John Finan, head of the NBCI's computer crime investigation unit, said 19 images had been found on the accused's hard disk. It had been stored in a "my documents" file. Another four images were stored on a zip disk.
He believed the images had originated on the Internet from a website whose name was a term used to describe pornography. It appeared that the images were freely available on the Internet. He was unable to say how often the images had been viewed, but gave evidence that most of the images had last been opened in May and June last year.
Although not wishing to trivialise the issue, Det Sgt Finan said he accepted that the content found on the defendant's computer equipment "would be graded lower than some more serious images".
Garda Brough's solicitor, Mr Julian Deale, pleaded for leniency, saying his client's profession meant he was "not an ordinary man" in terms of how a conviction would affect his life.
He said Garda Brough had joined the force in 1983, and had served in the UN police force in the Balkans. He was suspended from duties last January. Asking for the Probation Act to be applied, he said Garda Brough had dealt with the case "maturely and with great bravery".
Although he had no previous convictions, the court was informed the defendant had been subject to "one or two" internal Garda disciplinary measures.
Judge Mary Collins reserved judgement until April 14th next pending completion of a probation report and psychiatric assessment of the accused.
She turned down an application from the DPP to have Garda Brough's name placed on the sex offenders' register as the case had not been finalised. She had earlier refused an application by Mr Deale to have the hearing heard in camera as it could be considered a family law matter given the initial complaint to gardaí came from Garda Brough's wife.