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Long-serving garda to be sentenced in New Year for having child porn
Summary
Joseph O'Connor, a 58‑year‑old Garda from west Dublin, was convicted on five counts of possessing child pornography. The charges stem from a laptop seized on 2 August 2011 during an investigation of other allegations. Analysis of the laptop revealed videos and images depicting boys under ten and under 17 in sexual acts, as well as 16 different images of children sexually exposed. A jury found him guilty on four counts, acquitting him on one count involving 56 duplicate images. He was convicted of possessing two original images in a folder named "Spanked Boys," 15 explicit videos, 56 images and 42 videos of sexual acts, and 41 images of sexual exposure. The files were largely located in the hard drive's unallocated cluster space. O'Connor, who has been suspended since the matters arose, denied downloading the material and claimed it was placed on his computer by others. He was remanded on continuing bail until 14 January. Joseph O'Connor pleaded not guilty.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Long-serving garda to be sentenced in New Year for having child porn. Charges or matters: five counts of possession of child pornography at his home on dates between January 1, 2010 and August 2, 2011; possessing the two originals of these images, which were found in a computer folder named "Spanked Boys"; possessing 56 images and 42 videos of children being subjected to explicit sexual acts and 41 images of children being sexually exposed. Procedural stage: sentence. Findings: Found guilty
When:
- January 1, 2010 Incident
- August 2, 2011 Incident
- August 2 Incident
- August 2011 Incident
- January 14th Adjournment
- 2018-11-12 Publication
Case subjects
Defendant
Charges: five counts of possession of child pornography at his home on dates between January 1, 2010 and August 2, 2011; possessing the two originals of these images, which were found in a computer folder named "Spanked Boys"; possessing 56 images and 42 videos of children being subjected to explicit sexual acts and 41 images of children being sexually exposed (Proven)
Plea: Not guilty
Finding: Found guilty
Outcome: Found guilty; He asked for time for his client to be able to gather reports for the court for the sentence hearing.; This morning Judge Elma Sheahan remanded O'Connor on continuing bail to January 14th next.
Places mentioned
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