45-year-old “family man” receives suspended sentence for possession of child pornography

A 45-year-old “family man” has been acquitted by the court after being sentenced to a 16-month suspended prison sentence for possession of child pornography.

At Ennis District Court, Judge Francis Comerford imposed a 16-month suspended prison sentence on Liam Kelly, of Clonadrum, Mullagh in West Clare.

Judge Comerford said one of the reasons for imposing a suspended sentence was that Mr Kelly had already been punished for the offence.

Judge Comerford noted that these offences had already rightly had serious negative consequences for Mr Kelly.

The court was told that Spanish police intervened and met Mr Kelly in May 2018 after being alerted that he had stated online that he had a sexual interest in young girls and wanted to “try it out” with a 10-year-old girl while on holiday in Spain.

Judge Comerford said there was “no evidence that the child was put at risk while on holiday in Spain, but to speak in this way is abhorrent.”

Mr Kelly’s legal counsel, Sophie Pigot BL (instructed by John Casey, solicitor), told the court that since the case came to light, Mr Kelly had lost his job at the medical device manufacturing company where he had worked for 11 years.

Ms Pigot claimed that Mr Kelly’s sentence, even if suspended, was “enormous”.

She said: “He has lost family members, friends, neighbors and probably the trust of the entire community.”

Ms Pigot said the consequences of Mr Kelly’s offending had been “devastating for him and his family”.

Ms Pigot said Mr Kelly was unable to attend his children’s soccer games or take them to school.

Ms Pigot said a report submitted to the court on Mr Kelly showed that his crimes had had a negative impact on his family.

Ms Pigot said: “His wife was obviously disgusted and completely shocked and angry when she learned of his criminal behaviour. It has affected their relationship.”

According to Ms Pigot, the report concludes that Mr Kelly poses a low risk of reoffending and that he is remorseful.

She said Mr Kelly “initially denied any sexual interest in children but during the course of the investigation admitted a sexual preference for children and now actually shows strong insight”.

Ms Pigot added: “Mr Kelly expressed disgust with himself and intends to address these factors in therapy.”

According to Ms Pigot, the report shows that Mr Kelly “has demonstrated insight into how damaging the production of child pornography is to the victims concerned”.

Ms Pigot said the number of images was actually at the lower end of the offensive spectrum.

Mr Kelly, a graduate in applied physics and electronics, pleaded guilty to possession of three still images and a video of child pornography at his home in West Clare following an analysis of his phone in May 2018.

Sergeant Claire Haugh of Ennis Garda Station said the images showed individual naked females aged two to three, three to four and five.

Sergeant Haugh said a video showed a nine to 10 year old girl “removing her underwear in a provocative manner”.

Sergeant Haugh said that in an online chat in 2018, Mr Kelly stated that he was sexually interested in girls between the ages of eight and 13.

Sergeant Haugh said Mr Kelly had told Gardai that he was on such platforms “to expose paedophiles”.

However, Judge Comerford rejected Mr Kelly’s explanation as “untenable”.

Ms Pigot asked Judge Comerford to take into account Mr Kelly’s guilty plea, namely that he is a first offender, has not come to the attention of Gardai since and is undergoing therapy to correct his previous behaviour.

She said Mr Kelly did not distribute the images nor did he possess them for financial gain.

Judge Comerford said Mr Kelly’s contacts with third parties were an aggravating circumstance in the case.

Lorcan Connolly SC, counsel for the State, acting for Crown Prosecutor Aisling Casey, said a Garda analysis of a laptop at Mr Kelly’s home had not revealed any images containing child pornography, “but had shown that the user participated in various chat rooms which suggested a sexual interest in children”.

Mr Connolly said there was evidence in one online chat that there were 32 users online at the same time and that Mr Kelly had had various private chats with people with different usernames who had a sexual interest in children.

Sergeant Haugh agreed with Mr Connolly that the private chats Mr Kelly conducted under his username “indicated an exchange of thoughts and views and the promotion of an interest in paedophilia”.

Judge Comerford said the rehabilitation process would be better if a custodial sentence was not imposed immediately. Judge Comerford said a condition of the suspended sentence was that Mr Kelly continued to use therapeutic services.