A LIMERICK man who distributed child sexual abuse images online and encouraged a man to perform a sex act on children was jailed for 18 months with the final six months suspended.
Terence Fitzpatrick (46), of Donnellan’s Buildings, Rosbrien, was also given two concurrent 12-month jail sentences for possessing the illegal material.
At Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, Mr Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing sexual images of children and two counts of distributing the illegal images to others online.
Prosecuting barrister John O’Sullivan told the court Fitzpatrick “traded” sexual images of children with others on social media apps.
When another web user messaged Fitzpatrick “what are you into?”, he replied “the younger the better”, the cour heard.
Between them, Fitzpatrick and the other party traded eight images of girls aged between 10 and 14 with their genitals exposed.
Images of 14-year-old girls with their breasts exposed found by Gardaí on Fitzpatrick’s mobile phone, and on his digital cloud storage, were not deemed to be illegal, Mr O’Sullivan told the court.
One of nine images found on Fitzpatrick’s devices, of a 10-year-old girl with an object inserted in her genitals, was considered by Gardaí to be ‘Category A’, the highest on the scale in respect of child sex abuse offences.
Fitzpatrick also conversed with man online who said his two children, aged seven and nine, were inappropriately touching him and one other.
Mr O’Sullivan said Fitzpatrick instructed the man to undress the two children and ejaculate on them. The court heard the man messaged Fitzpatrick afterwards telling him he had “complied” with his request.
Mr O’Sullivan said Fitzpatrick told Gardaí he did not believe the other man actually had children and that it was all “fantasy”.
In February 2022, Fitzpatrick was arrested by Gardaí attached to the Limerick Divisional Protective Services Unit at Henry Street Garda Station after they received an alert from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in the United States, after Fitzpatrick shared a sexual image of a child on Instagram in November 2021.
During a Garda search of his home, Fitzpatrick admitted possessing and distributing the illegal material he had stored on his mobile phone, a USB stick, and on digital cloud storage.
He began seeking images of children in September 2021 when he engaged with a fake Instagram account, which he believed was being run by a 14-year-old girl, who he called “sweetheart”, “beautiful princess”, and told her “love you loads”.
Fitzpatrick’s barrister, Donal Cronin, instructed by solicitor Sarah Ryan, said Fitzpatrick had been bored and working an “unstimulating” job when he sought out the images, and he hadn’t come to Garda attention since.
Mr Cronin told the court Fitzpatrick’s family relationships were now strained and his wife had left him after she found out about his activities online.
In mitigation, the barrister said Fitzpatrick, who was supported in court by his mother, had pleaded guilty and cooperated fully with the investigation.
Judge Colin Daly said the harm done to the children in the images traded by Fitzpatrick was “obvious”. The judge said the sharing of child abuse material “drives demand for more images, more children to be targeted, more children to be abused, and more children to be exploited”.
Judge Daly said Fitzpatrick’s activities online were “completely reprehensible” and “seeking out” of sexual images of children indicated “a level of pre-meditation”.
The judge said he believed headline sentences of three years on each count of distribution and two years on each count of possession were appropriate.
He took into consideration Fitzpatrick’s guilty pleas, “genuine remorse’, “willingness” to engage with rehabilitation services, as well as a psychological report that stated Fitzpatrick was of below average risk of reoffending.
Judge Daly reduced the two distribution sentences to 18 months to run concurrently to one another. He reduced the two possession counts to 12 months to run concurrently to one another and the distribution sentences.
The judge ordered Fitzpatrick be added to a national sex offenders register, that he abide by a 12-month post release supervision order, and that he engage with a sex-offender treatment programme.