Gardaí investigating after online vigilante group confronts Wicklow man in grooming sting
The Wicklow PeopleA group describing itself as an online child protection team that carries out “paedophile hunting” has posted a series of videos online showing its members confronting a man over allegations that he had engaged in online grooming of three pre-teen girls.
The confrontation was initially livestreamed to more than 1,000 viewers, before being uploaded online in three separate clips showing the group questioning the man about a series of alleged online conversations with the children.
The confrontation took place at a house near Bray, Co Wicklow.
An Garda Síochána confirmed it is aware of the incident and said no arrests have been made at this time.
Gardaí said investigations are ongoing and reiterated that every person is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
They also expressed concern about the activities of private groups carrying out such confrontations, warning that they have the potential to result in violence and could affect future criminal proceedings.
In the videos posted by the group, the man is accused of telling a 12-year-old girl that she is a “beautiful lady” and that he “helps boys and girls make videos to put on YouTube” and stages little “fashion shows”.
A member of the group showed an app depicting an image a girl had sent to an account they believed belonged to him.
They showed him a reply from that account that asked her to “try some different poses”, including getting on all fours and crawling towards the camera, which was described in messages as a “normal model pose”.
Afterwards, another message asked if she would “wear a bra and denim shorts”.
When asked by the team “what respectable photographer would ask for pictures like that?”, the man said he was not a photographer.
“I didn’t think,” he is seen saying. “I thought to myself, why am I doing this? What’s wrong with me?”
He also told the team in the video that he is not a parent, but that he understood “the harm” his actions could have on children.
In a second correspondence with another girl, the account believed to belong to the man used a similar approach, with the user also looking for similar photographs.
He seemed to admit in the video to asking a third girl to kiss the inside of her arm “to practice”, and also to sending her a video of him doing the same.
The man said he has nieces of a similar age to the girls, but denied ever being alone with them.
A member of the group questioned him about whether they ever stayed with him, which he denied.
It was alleged by the group that eight people had come forward since the livestream began, but he rejected the assertion that he had any contact with other children.
“How did you think this was? You obviously have a sexual attraction to kids,” said one of the group.
“I deserve what I get. I am being honest,” the man is seen saying in the video.
At the end of the livestream, one of the group asked him what would happen if it was his nieces, but he did not engage or reply.