Senior lawyer hits out at ‘massive delay’ in data analysis in child porn cases
A senior lawyer has hit out at the ‘massive delay’ by the State in analysing technical evidence in child pornography cases.
At Ennis Circuit Court, Brian McInerney BL was commenting in a case where his client, Ciaran Moore (41) has pleaded guilty to the possession of 531 child explicit images and 24 child explicit movies at his home address in the Tullyglass area of Shannon.
The offences took place on October 31st and November 1st 2012.
Addressing Judge Gerald Keys, Mr McInerney said: “The dates on the indictment relate to almost six years ago and that, I just wish to point out at this stage, is through no fault of the accused.”
Mr McInerney said: “That is because of the dearth of resources available to the Garda Siochána in what used to be known as the Computer Crime Unit and they have now have some exotic name attached to it."
“Experience has shown in this case and other cases that there is a massive delay on the part of the State conducting the analysis of this material."
Mr McInerney requested that the residential address where the child porn material was discovered not be published as there are entirely innocent parties residing at that house.
In reply, Judge Keys directed that the address not be published.
Mr McInerney said that ahead of sentencing in the case later this year, he would ask for an extension of the legal aid cert to provide for a psychiatric report on Mr Moore.
Counsel for the State, Lorcan Connolly BL said that there are four offences concerning a house in Shannon and a fifth count relating to a separate non-residential address at Tullyvarraga, Shannon.
In the case, Mr Moore has pleaded guilty to possession of 158 explicit child images and 10 explicit child movies on a C Gate External Hard Drive on October 31st at a Shannon address.
Mr Moore has also pleaded guilty to the possession of 269 child explicit images and eight child explicit home movies on a Dell XPS Laptop on October 31st 2012.
Mr Moore has also pleaded guilty to the possession of three child explicit movies on a Toshiba External Hard Drive on October 31st 2012.
In addition, at the same address and on the same date, Mr Moore pleaded guilty to having 104 child explicit images on a Western Digital External Hard Drive on October 31st 2012.
In the fifth count that Mr Moore pleaded guilty to, he pleaded guilty to the possession of three child explicit movies on a Asus G743 Laptop at Tullyvarraga, Shannon on November 1st.
Judge Keys remanded Mr Moore on bail to Ennis Circuit Court to October 1st to fix a date for sentence.
