Alexander Ortauf receives suspended sentence for child pornography

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Alexander Ortauf received a two-and-a-half-year sentence, suspended in full, at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The proceedings were reported on 9 February 2024.

Ortauf pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on 17 February 2020 and to using information and communication technology to facilitate the sexual exploitation of a child.

Ortauf, then aged 18, flew from the UK to Dublin Airport in February 2020 intending to meet a 13-year-old girl he had met online. He told gardaí he wanted to meet her to break up with her because she was too young, and wanted to do so in person because he did not want her to harm herself.

An immigration officer called the girl from Ortauf’s phone, after which he was denied permission to enter and gardaí were alerted. About 20 images and ten videos of a sexual nature were found on his phone.

Detective Garda Paul O'Leary agreed that the girl had told Ortauf at one stage that she was 16, but said her photos and videos made it apparent she was only 13.

Judge Martin Nolan said he could not be absolutely certain what Ortauf knew about the girl’s age. He said a custodial sentence would have been inevitable had Ortauf been older at the time, but took his youth and lack of previous convictions into account when suspending the sentence.