A man who admitted filming himself carrying out “vile” sex acts on an infant boy, and who then shared the video footage with others via the “kik” social media platform, has been jailed for six years with the final two years suspended.
At Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Tom O'Donnell lifted reporting restrictions to allow the identification of the defendant, Jamie Marshall (35), a native of Limerick city.
Marshall, who had 133 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to knowingly possessing child pornography, knowingly producing child pornography, knowingly distributing child pornography; defilement of a child; and using communication technology to facilitate the sexual exploitation of a child, on or before December 30th, 2020.
Judge O’Donnell ordered that the specifics of Marshall’s home address, where his parents continue to reside, not be reported after his barrister, senior counsel Brian McInerney told the court that his client’s elderly parents were “concerned” their address would be published.
The mother of the child told the court she wished to waive her right to anonymity, however, the court ordered that the child could not be identified.
Judge O’Donnell said Marshall was entitled to “credit” on his sentence for pleading guilty to all of the charges at the earliest opportunity, for fully co-operating with the Garda investigation, and for having been in custody awaiting sentence since May 2nd, 2023. He had not taken up bail.
However, the judge said he had to impose an immediate custodial sentence, and he described Marshall’s behaviour as “appalling, vile, egregious, and despicable”.
The judge added: “It was depravity of the highest order with an infant child.”
Charges
Marshall was facing a maximum life sentence for the defilement charge, a maximum sentence of five years for the possession charge, and up to 14 years on each of the other three charges, including producing child pornography, distributing child pornography and using communication technology to facilitate the sexual exploitation of a child.
Although he pleaded guilty to all of the charges, Marshall had denied in interviews with gardaí that he had a sexual predilection for children. He told gardaí the abuse occurred because he was taking cocaine and when he took this drug he became “a creep”.
However, Brian McInerney SC, told the court that Marshall no longer blamed cocaine: “He must accept what he did, no one is to blame but himself and he is deeply ashamed of his behaviour.”
Marshall had filmed himself abusing the boy and uploaded the material to the kik platform under the pseudonym “Honda22Civic”.
When the material was uploaded, it quickly alerted the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, who in turn tipped off Gardaí, who in turn tracked down Marshall and identified the infant in mid-January 2021.
Marshall uploaded and shared 15 videos and two images on kik of sex acts involving children, including the infant boy, as well as images and videos of a number of underage girls that were shared with him by a third party whom Marshall did not identify.
Marshall was identified by gardaí in the videos with the boy because of distinctive and unique tattoos on his forearms. He had also used his email address to set up the Honda22Civic account.
Reading a victim impact statement on behalf of her son, the woman told the court: “I never thought that something like this would come to my family, I never thought my son would be violated in such a way, it was such a shock to me, my family and friends.”
The woman said the abuse of her son had destroyed her mental health, and she had “self-harmed”, “all because of what happened my son”.
The woman said she could not forgive the defendant for what he had done. “I think about it every day. I would be more cautious about who I leave my son around because I can't trust anybody after this.”
Speaking to reporters after Friday’s sentence was delivered, the woman said she hoped that the Director of Public Prosecutions would appeal the terms of the sentence so that Marshall would spend longer in jail.
“I was hoping for at least 10 years, because I am distraught by it.” The woman said her son was now “thriving” with the support of his family circle.
“He is a very happy child, he is very loveable, and he loves cuddles. He is in crèche, starting junior infants in September, he’s excited about that. He is actually such a pleasant, happy little child and he is very well behaved.”
The woman said she wanted to “thank” kik, Gardaí, and the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children for having flagged and helped unearth Marshall’s actions.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.
