Marcin Wojciechowicz pleads guilty to child pornography possession

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

Marcin Wojciechowicz (34) pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on a mobile phone at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The proceedings were reported on 15 July 2016.

Judge Melanie Greally adjourned the case to 5 October to consider it and allow gardaí to establish over what period the images had been collected.

Gardaí found more than 16,000 images and 300 videos classified as child pornography across his USB stick, mobile phone and laptop. Garda Ken Sullivan said 700 laptop files were classified at level five, the highest category, involving sadism or cruelty.

Garda Brian Cleary said a co-worker found the USB key in his van after giving Wojciechowicz a lift home. The co-worker’s wife later viewed an image on it, and the couple brought it to gardaí. The report said Wojciechowicz had been in custody since his arrest.

The report said Wojciechowicz initially denied downloading the images and claimed they had been planted by gardaí. He later accepted viewing them, saying he was trying to catch paedophiles and must have downloaded them accidentally.

Defence counsel Padraig Dwyer SC said Wojciechowicz accepted responsibility but maintained that he had a long-term plan to hand the material to the authorities. He was prepared to leave the country as part of any suspended sentence.

Mr Dwyer said Wojciechowicz had previously been diagnosed with schizophrenia and might not reoffend with proper psychiatric care. He said there was no evidence of commercial or distribution purposes and asked the court to consider that much of the material fell into lower categories. The report said Wojciechowicz had no previous convictions.

Garda Cleary agreed with the defence that the guilty plea greatly assisted the case and avoided a trial that would have distressed a jury.