A 23-year-old Wexford man has been returned for trial having pleaded guilty to having 500 pornographic images of children in his home computer and on CD-ROMs.
Mr William John Roche, Bawnjames, Rosbercon, New Ross, appeared before Judge Donnchadh Ó Buachalla at New Ross District Court yesterday.
Solicitor for the defendant, Mr Frank Heffernan, said he wished to withdraw an earlier application requesting the judge to reconsider his decision to send the defendant forward for trial to the Circuit Court, on the grounds that the number of images was considerably lower than previously mentioned.
At an earlier court hearing, Det Sgt Ken Piper gave evidence of having called to the defendant's home at 7 a.m. on May 27th last year. He went to the man's bedroom where he seized a laptop, PC, 68 CD-ROMs and 11 floppy discs. He said one of the floppy discs was hidden under a carpet in the bedroom.
The items were seized and forwarded to the domestic violence and sexual assault unit at Harcourt Street, Dublin.
The images, he said, detailed children in passive positions rather than being involved in sexual acts.
The defendant, said Det Sgt Piper, accessed an Internet site on seven occasions in 1999 using his credit card number and was provided with a password to access the US sites.
Bank and credit-card statements were handed over and the defendant co-operated fully with the investigation.
Judge Ó Buachalla said he would return the defendant for trial to the next sitting of Wexford Circuit Court on his own bail of €300.