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Jury deliberating in trial of garda accused of having child porn

Summary

The jury has begun deliberating in the trial of Joseph O'Connor, a 58‑year‑old Garda from west Dublin, who has pleaded not guilty to five counts of possession of child pornography. The charges relate to images and videos found on a laptop seized from his home on 2 August 2011, which investigators said contained videos of boys under ten and under 17 being subjected to sexual acts, as well as 16 images of children sexually exposed. O'Connor denies downloading the material, claiming it was placed on his computer by a man who had visited his home for sex days before the seizure and that he believes the man corrupted his computer. The State's case rests on proving beyond reasonable doubt that O'Connor knew the files were on his laptop, while the defence argues that the files could have been placed by others.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Jury deliberating in trial of garda accused of having child porn. Charges or matters: five counts of possession of child pornography at his home in west Dublin on dates between July 30 and August 2 in 2011. Procedural stage: trial

When:

• July 30 Incident
• August 2 Incident
• July 29 Hearing Or Sentence
• 2018-11-06 Publication

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Stage Trial

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Read the original CNI report