The Court of Appeal has reduced the sentence imposed on a man who sexually assaulted a child and later used a hidden camera to film her undressing and showering in the family bathroom.
The appellant, identified only as S.L., had been in a relationship with the child's mother and lived in the family home. The sexual assault occurred when the child was aged between 11 and 12. Under the pretence of treating her eczema, he touched her chest and bottom.
He later bought a spy camera and concealed it in a clock in the bathroom. Four videos were made of the child undressing or showering. He distributed material to another person and took part in Skype conversations which the sentencing judge described as obscene and grotesque.
A Garda investigation began after a tablet was seized during an unrelated search in Co Donegal in April 2016. Communications on the device led investigators to S.L. A subsequent search of his home also uncovered other child pornography involving children aged between three and 11.
In July 2020, S.L. received concurrent sentences including six years and nine months for production and distribution, with the final nine months suspended. He appealed their severity.
The Court of Appeal found the offences were firmly in the mid-range because of the planning involved, abuse of trust, invasion of the child's privacy and the disturbing communications accompanying distribution. However, it held that a nine-year headline sentence placed the offences too high within that range, given the small number of recordings and their content.
The court substituted seven-year headline sentences for production and distribution, reducing each to five years and six months for mitigation and suspending the final year for four years. The three-year sexual assault sentence remained unchanged.
S.L. was also placed under Probation Service supervision for six years after release and remains subject to the sex offenders register.