A MAN was remanded in custody for sentence on charges of possessing “extreme” child sex abuse images and videos and telling others he wanted to torture, rape, and murder a child.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared via video-link for a sentencing hearing before Limerick Circuit Criminal Court.
Sentencing was adjourned after the man’s barrister, Liam Carroll, said he was waiting for the probation service to produce a probation report.
Prosecuting barrister, John O’Sullivan, told the court it was a “disturbing case”.
Judge Colin Daly adjourned the matter to a date in June to allow the probation service time to interview the defendant and compile a pre-sentencing report.
At a previous hearing, a Detective Garda from a protective services unit – which investigates crimes of a sexual nature – described the defendant as a “risk to children” and a “danger to the community”.
The defendant pleaded guilty to a total of 14 offences relating to the possession, production, and distribution of digital material and sexualised conversations relating to children.
The defendant, in his 40s, was arrested and charged in October 2025. He made no reply to the charges initially but later pleaded guilty.
At that hearing, Detective Garda James Muldowney said Gardaí searched the man’s home and found mobile phones containing “extreme child pornography”.
Garda Muldowney said that imagery of an eight-year-old boy whose hands were chained together was included in the material found on the man’s phones.
Gardaí also found conversations between the man and others on the Session and TeleGuard chat apps relating to the sexual abuse of children.
Garda Muldowney said that in one digital chat the defendant stated he would “love to torture, rape, and kill a child”.
He said the man stated in the online chats that he had been “so close a few times” to actually harming a child.
Garda Muldowney said that, in his view, the man was a “risk to children” and had distributed extreme videos to unnamed individuals online.
The court heard the defendant told Gardaí he had been addicted to crystal meth and did not always remember his actions after taking the drug.
Garda Muldowney said the man also told Gardaí that he had HIV, was not taking prescribed medication to stave off the virus, and was having unprotected sex with others.
The court heard the man told Gardaí he had been planning to travel to the Philippines to act out on a sexual attraction to pubescent boys.
During a failed bail application before Limerick District Court last October, Mr Carroll BL, defending, put it to Garda Muldowney that, although the defendant’s online conversations with others were “abhorrent”, they were “performative fantasy”.
Garda Muldowney replied: “That’s what he (the defendant) says, but they interject with his actual life, and that is too close for my comfort.”
Garda Muldowney agreed with Mr Carroll that the defendant claimed he had been sexually abused as a child.
Mr Carroll told the court the defendant had been willing to abide by any bail conditions Gardaí might have sought, including giving up access to mobile phones, laptops, and devices which might allow him further access to child sex abuse material or contact other individuals with a similar predilection.
Garda Muldowney told the court: “It’s not actually the devices that are my concern, it’s the real world people that I believe are in danger.”
Mr Carroll told the court the sexual abuse the defendant claimed had been perpetrated on him when he was a child “had a very profound effect on him and he finds himself addicted to an extremely harmful substance — crystal meth”.
“He has told me he has attempted to get treatment for his difficulties, but that it’s quite difficult to find somebody appropriate.”
– Court Reporting Scheme