A Limerick man who believed he was sending naked images of himself to a 13-year-old girl, has been given a suspended 12-month jail sentence for child sexploitation, after a paedophile hunters group exposed him online.
Martin Geraghty (55), originally from Garryowen, Limerick, was confronted by members of a group called Child Protection Awareness (CPA) on April 1st, 2018, Limerick Circuit Criminal Court heard.
Members of the CPA live-streamed their encounter with Geragthy when they called to his apartment on Sexton Street, Limerick City. The video recording has been viewed 240,000 times and shared over 2,400 times online.
Geragthy, a father two who left Limerick after he was exposed, had engaged in a two-month text conversation with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl, but was actually a decoy adult from CPA.
A 12-month sentence was fully suspended by Judge Tom O’Donnell after Geragthy pleaded guilty on November 21st, to one count of using information technology and communication technology to facilitate the sexual exploitation of a child by sending sexually explicit material to a child.
Geraghty was also placed on a register of known sex offenders for five years.
Detective Inspector Vincent Brick, Garda Protective Services Bureau, Henry Street Garda Station, who led the Garda investigation, told the court that Geraghty sent the person who he thought was a young girl naked pictures of himself, including his erect penis.
Geraghty told the person his name and address and asked that they visit him at his apartment on Easter Sunday and that he would have a chocolate Easter egg waiting.
At the time, Geraghty was residing in an apartment situated directly across the street from a national school, and a pre-school.
Geraghty had told the decoy in their text conversations that, after taking showers, he loved to walk around the apartment naked to dry himself.
Indecent images and videos
Geragthy has two previous convictions before Limerick Circuit Court on February 9th, 2022, including one conviction for possession of around 200 indecent images and videos of children on February 25th, 2015, and another for selling, distributing or advertising the same indecent material on the same date.
For these offences, Geragthy was sentenced by Judge Tom O’Donnell to a fully suspended two and half year jail sentence, and he was placed on a sex offenders register for five years.
Geraghty came to the attention of the Garda for these offences when his accessing of indecent material involving children online was flagged by international law enforcement.
He was made aware very early in the conversation with the adult decoy that he was conversing with what he believed to be a 13-year-old girl.
When confronted by CPA, Geragthy said he would not have done anything with children had he had met them. However, chat logs provided by CPA to gardaí showed Geraghty allegedly stated he wanted to shower, kiss and have sexual intercourse with the person he thought was an underage girl.
Speaking after the sentencing hearing, a source familiar with the case warned: “These guys are actively out there, actively seeking to engage with children, and there’s evidence there to say these type of individuals are attempting to use information technology to engage with what they believe to be a child in order to groom children and sexually exploit them.”
“The tone of the conversation between him (Geraghty) and the decoy escalated quite quickly, and within the first four or five lines of their first conversation he is getting quiet graphic.”
In CPA’s video footage posted on its website, Geragthy admitted that he was “a disgrace”.
“I know I’m going to be in trouble, I know I’m going to go to jail for this, I apologise,” Geragthy said.
