Courts Service reveals breakdown of prosecutions over child sexual abuse images

ireland
Courts Service Reveals Breakdown Of Prosecutions Over Child Sexual Abuse Images
The data shows 47 of the offences were dealt with by the District Court with 12 involving a suspended sentence of imprisonment
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Ken Foxe

At least 25 cases involving possession of images of child sexual abuse were dealt with through fines, suspended sentences, probation orders, or the ‘poor box’ in the District Court over the past two years.

A breakdown of prosecutions from the District Court shows that 361 offences under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act were heard during 2023 and 2024.

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Of those, the overwhelming majority – 314 in total – were sent forward for trial to a higher court.

However, 47 of the offences were dealt with by the District Court with 12 involving a suspended sentence of imprisonment.

There were a further three cases where fines were handed down and one case where a judge ordered a donation to the poor box.

One case was dismissed entirely while another was dismissed under the Probation Act, according to data released by the Courts Service under Freedom of Information laws.

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There was just a solitary case dealt with at District Court level where a term of imprisonment was imposed.

Eight cases were listed as ‘other,’ and it is unclear from the Courts Service data what the precise outcome of those prosecutions was.

A total of nine cases were dealt with by way of a probation order while six cases were struck out.

Three cases were logged as ‘taken into consideration’ while two were withdrawn before being taken any further.

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The Courts Service said that for some of the 361 District Court cases, an individual defendant could have more than one court outcome.

That means it’s not possible to say with certainty how many individuals were before the courts as some may appear in the data multiple times.

An information note said most cases were sent forward for the trial to the Circuit Court but that a breakdown of what happened next was not possible.

They said: “At this time, the system in use by the Courts Service in the Circuit Courts is … a Lotus notes database and cannot produce reports for specific offences.”

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The Courts Service said this meant reports could only be produced for offence categories and not for individual offences like those under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act.

The information note said the District Court data may also be incomplete as prosecutors did not always use offence codes in every case.

“Prosecutors may have used uncoded free text offences and any such offences would not be included in the data provided,” they said.

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.

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