Man with over 10,000 images of child abuse receives suspended sentence

A man has been given a suspended sentence after more than 10,000 images depicting child sexual abuse were found on him, 30 of which were classified as extremely serious and sexually explicit.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Piotr Grycuk (45) had not reoffended since his rented accommodation was raided by Gardaí six years ago and that he posed a low risk of reoffending.

Before his arrest, Grycuk had registered for therapy himself, attended over 200 psychotherapy sessions and did not feel attracted to children, the court learned.

Grycuk, of Raglan Road, Ballsbridge, pleaded guilty to possessing 10,347 images and three videos of child pornography at his home on 23 July 2018.

In a ruling on Wednesday, Judge Martin Nolan said Grycuk had shown insight and remorse for his crime and that it would be unfair to send him to prison.

Judge Nolan said that possession of child sexual abuse material rightly brings “public hatred and shame” and found that Grycuk would suffer significantly in this regard.

The judge said there had been no re-offending, Grycuk had taken steps to change by seeing a therapist and psychologist and there was a “reasonable prospect” that he would not re-offend.

Grycuk was sentenced to three years’ probation and required to undergo probation supervision for 18 months.

Sergeant Eugene McCarthy told prosecutor Antonia Boyle BL that the Gardaí were alerted to the case by American law enforcement agencies who provided an IP address.

The court heard that gardaí had to force entry into Grycuk’s home as he was not present when they arrived to search the premises shortly after 7am on the day in question.

external hard drives

Gardaí found seven devices, including a laptop, four external hard drives, a laptop hard drive and a Samsung hard drive, which tested positive for child sexual abuse material.

Grycuk, a Polish national who has been in Ireland since 2006, contacted the Gardaí when he returned home a few hours later and handed over two SD memory cards and two memory sticks.

He told Gardaí that they would find images and videos of child sexual abuse on the devices and explained that he was addicted to pornography and had downloaded material from the dark web.

Grycuk gave police the password to his laptop and went to a police station by appointment. A report by the Garda National Cyber ​​Crime Bureau said the vast majority of the 10,000 images were Category 2 and showed children who were victims of cybercrime.

According to the analysis, 30 of the images were classified as Category 1 and show children engaging in explicit sexual acts or witnessing such acts.

One of the three videos was in Category 1, the other two in Category 2. The prosecutor said some of the children depicted were between five and seven years old, while others were toddlers.

Grycuk made full confessions, saying he regretted possessing the material and was in therapy for his pornography addiction.

He has no previous convictions in Ireland or any other country.

Sergeant McCarthy agreed with the defence that Grycuk had not come to the Garda’s attention since this offence and that there was no evidence that he had shared or distributed any images.

The court heard that Grycuk has worked in security since arriving in Ireland.

A psychologist’s report said Grycuk showed a degree of insight, remorse and emotional awareness for his behavior and was interested in his own rehabilitation.

There was a letter from Grycuk’s former partner and a doctor’s report attested that he had a low risk of relapse.