A film student duped a young girl into sharing intimate pictures and then tried to "blackmail" her into for sex, or he would send the images to her social media followers, a court has heard.
Stephen Seery, 22, also attacked a female Garda with a punch and a kick in the face when she posed as the girl and went to meet him, Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court was told.
Judge Keenan Johnson imposed a three-year suspended sentence after the accused pleaded guilty to an offence under the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 for threatening to distribute intimate images of the girl on August 23rd, 2022.
Seery, of Vilanstown, Gaybrook, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, was also ordered to carry out 240 hours of community service instead of a sentence of two years and six months for assault causing harm to Garda Gemma Prendergast.
He must pay each victim €5,000
He recalled the prosecution evidence, which revealed how Seery operated an Instagram account with an AI-generated name. He began communicating with the girl, asking if she had nude pictures. She confirmed she had but told him she expressed that she had no intention of sharing them.
Seery continued contacting her, "persistently" looking for nude images of the girl with offers of gifts and money. He told her he would give her an iPhone 12 and she sent him eight to ten photos from her gallery, including two without clothes but edited so the victim's face was not visible.
When the phone did not arrive, Seery, who had no prior convictions, pretended he could not understand why and told her he had ordered another one. When further queried about the phone, "The accused threatened to send the pictures to the victim's followers if she did not meet and have sex with him."
It was then arranged that they would meet at a bridge near the old abandoned train station in Mullingar, but following this, the victim reported him to gardaí.
Assault of Garda
Garda Prendergast, who dealt with the girl, went to the area where the meeting was to take place and presented herself as the victim, but the accused realised "and reacted by punching her."
The officer identified herself as a garda, and "the accused proceeded to kick her in the head".
She described the blows as "coming from nowhere and exceptionally violent" in her statement.
The garda managed to get her hand up to protect her head from the force of the kick, which brushed against the side of her head, sending her "spinning to the ground" and leaving her bruised.
Other gardaí observing the incident intervened and arrested the accused, who admitted he was behind the Instagram account and acknowledged that the victim had not given permission to publish the photos.
The girl's victim impact statement outlined the extreme upset caused and she told gardaí "she wants to put the matter behind her and move on with her life".
Judge Johnson said it was clear the purpose of the meeting at the train station in Mullingar was for the accused to engage in sex with the victim after he threatened to share the pictures.
In his interviews, Seery told gardaí he had no friends besides people he engaged with online.
Garda Prendergast provided a victim impact statement saying that in her 20-year career, she had never encountered such aggression before, and his reaction surprised her and left her shaken.
She thought Seery was "determined" to inflict injury on her. "Instead of trying to talk or run away, his first response was to kick her straight in the head," Judge Johnson noted.
Judge Johnson described the offences as disgraceful and cowardly, involving a vile intrusion on the girl.
Seery then adopted a sinister approach and attempted to blackmail her into having sex with her, or the pictures would be distributed to her followers.
"This was an appalling and despicable act and clearly involved creative planning and premeditation," he said, adding that this was a particularly aggravating feature of the case. Both victims were traumatised, he noted.
Mitigating factors
A forensic psychological assessment put found Seery's risk of further sexual offence in the medium range, based on his current status, but found it could increase if he began drinking heavily again.
Mitigating factors were his young age, remorse, lack of previous convictions, and guilty plea, and the judge said it appeared Seery's offending was affected by his sense of isolation and depressive symptoms.
He said it was out of character for the accused and an aberration. It was clear, he stated, that Seery was from a good family, and following apprehension, he accepted the offences were malicious, furnished letters of apology to his victim, and expressed shame.
The court heard he worked part-time, was on a film production course, and engaging with his doctor and counselling, which needs to continue, and he has quit binge drinking.
The court noted he had been recently diagnosed with autism, and this diagnosis would assist him in getting help to reduce his risk of reoffending.
The judge learned from the accused's father that Seery had issues from childhood, suffered a mental breakdown in his teens, and "was in a dark place for years". Incarceration would be a setback for his progress, the judge held.
The accused, who will be placed on the sex offenders register, must not reoffend for six years, never contact the victims and continue counselling, including consent training, and remain on an educational course and probation supervision for 18 months.
