Dublin man remanded after discovery of 'shocking and horrible' pictures
A Dublin man found with thousands of child pornography images which he himself described as "disgusting, shocking and horrible" has been remanded on bail for sentence on December 15.
Robert Conway (aged 31), Rafter’s Road, Drimnagh, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of approximately 2,000 images depicting children in sexually-explicit situations on February 26, 2002.
Detective Sergeant Martin Mooney told prosecuting counsel, Ms Una Ni Raifeartaigh BL, that Conway revealed the images hidden in CD-Roms and ZIP disc as well as floppies in a drawer under his bed when gardaí searched his house on February 26, 2002..
Det Sgt Mooney said gardaí categorised the images into three groups - children under five years of age, children between five and 12 years and children aged over 12. In each group, the children were shown involved in various degrees of sexually-explicit activities.
The images, some of which were shown to Judge Desmond Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, ranged from children posing naked, pictures of their genitalia, and some that showed them being subjected to various forms of sexual penetration.
Det Sgt Mooney said, once confronted, Conway was extremely co-operative and did not hesitate in revealing where he had hidden the pictures. He said he had first browsed the web sites out of curiosity and it soon became "like an addiction".
When shown the pictures to him by gardaí after forensic examinations of his computers, he described them as "shoking, horrible and awful".
He told gardaí that the web sites were so easy to access and the images so easy to download that he had not fully realised how wrong his actions were. Investigation of his credit card activities showed that he had used it eight times to purchase the images between January and August 1999.
Det Sgt Mooney agreed with defence counsel, Ms Aileen Donnelly BL, that the images were available to download from the sites in groups and that Conway had not purchased them individually.
He also agreed that like other persons involved in similar crimes Conway was a "hoarder", stashing away large number of pictures. There was, however, no evidence that he had redistributed any of them to anyone else. Nor had he been using internet chat sites dedicated to such discussions.
Det Sgt Mooney also agreed that Conway could benefit from the psychological therapy he is currently undergoing both privately and at the Granada Institute.
Judge Hogan said he needed time to consider how the therapy affects Conway in the next five months before he imposes the sentence on December 15, 2004.
