The fully suspended sentence handed down to the "determined and organised" admin of a child abuse messaging group who was caught with hundreds of images and videos after an FBI tip-off was too lenient, the State has argued.
Anthony Ryan, with an address at Macoyle Upper, Inch, Gorey, Co Wexford, deserved an "immediate custodial sentence", lawyers for the Director of Public Prosecutions told the court on Monday.
Ryan had pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography on September 22nd, 2020.
He was sentenced to three years in prison suspended for a period of four years by Judge James McCourt at Wexford Circuit Court on March 20th, 2024.
The court heard Ryan’s home was searched following a tip-off from the FBI after an undercover agent infiltrated messenger groups and alerted authorities.
A large number of images and videos were found on Ryan’s personal mobile phone and further material was retrieved from the Kik messaging application.
The combined examinations revealed 575 items, including 326 images of young girls - the majority of whom were under the age of 12 – exposing themselves and 159 videos of young boys and girls engaged in sexually explicit activity.
At the Court of Appeal on Monday, Patricia McLaughlin SC, for the DPP, contended this was a case that called for “an immediate custodial sentence”.
She argued the nature of the material involved, the methodology around acquiring and distributing these images and videos and the level of activism of the respondent on particular chat threads merited a higher headline sentence.
Counsel referenced the nature and content of the material involved - including children under the age of eight engaged in oral sex with both adults and children - and the young age of the children, which she said was a relevant consideration.
She said Ryan effectively used the tools of the internet to assist his offending, not only by registering on Kik but also signing up to Dropbox and other sites to store the images so that they were “readily available to him”.
Ms McLaughlin asserted there was a difference between someone who is “drawn unwittingly into viewing this material” and someone who does it in a “determined, organised and premeditated way.”
The barrister acknowledged that the sentencing judge had referenced the relevant aggravating circumstances in his judgement but submitted he had given them insufficient weight.
Michael O’Higgins SC, representing Ryan, argued the sentence imposed had not been unduly lenient and said there was “very strong” mitigation in this case.
He said there had been “instant co-operation” with gardaí, Ryan had supplied his pin number to access the phone and there had been an early plea of guilty.
He said this was a case which was “on the line” where there was some “very depraved conduct” with regard to establishing the facts of the case, but on the other hand, there was “very significant mitigation”.
Counsel described Ryan’s offending as “an affliction” and “compulsive behaviour”.
“There’s no justification here, it’s rationalisation,” he said.
Mr O’Higgins said the respondent had seen the death of both his father and a teenage daughter and this had led him into “a very dark place” but “when the knock comes at the door the turning around could not have been any quicker”. He said his client had immediately engaged with child abuse support service One in Four.
He said Ryan recognised he was “in the throes of this affliction and took every single step to stabilise it”,
Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said the three-judge court said would reserve judgement in the case.
Detective Garda Jacinta Gordon told the sentencing hearing that gardaí searched Ryan’s home following a tip-off from the FBI in Winnebago, Illinois in relation Kik Messenger accounts associated with email addresses linked to the respondent.
The court heard Kik Messenger is a messaging platform with similar functions to Whatsapp and Viber, permitting group chats of up to 50 people. The platform also facilitates the sharing of pictures, videos and links between participants.
Several electronic devices were seized from Ryan’s home and a large quantity of images and videos were found on his personal mobile phone. The respondent was present during the execution of the warrant and cooperated by providing all devices and PIN codes to the gardaí.
The mobile phone was examined in December 2021 and material was extracted using Cellebrite software with further material from the contents of the Kik application retrieved manually using the screenshot function.
The combined examinations revealed 575 items, including 326 images of girls, the majority of whom were under the age of 12, with the genital region exposed and 67 images of young girls engaged in or subjected to sexually explicit activity.
Gardaí also found 23 videos depicting both boys and girls, mostly under the age of 12, with the genital region exposed, and 159 videos of young boys and girls engaged in sexually explicit activity.
In addition to the material in Ryan’s possession on Kik, there was also evidence of the distribution by him of images and videos of child pornography on those chat threads. In total, he shared 42 images.
The court heard that Ryan actively engaged in commenting on images shared by others.
When interviewed, he admitted that he was a group administrator of a Kik Messenger group which shared child sexual abuse images.
