A man who downloaded “depraved material”, including 78 videos of child sexual abuse, has been handed a fully suspended sentence.
Joao Silva Pinto (25), of Mabbot Lane, Dublin 1, appeared before Judge Martina Baxter in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday having pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography on a phone at the same address on June 18th, 2022.
Judge Baxter said Silva Pinto created a demand for “such depraved material” by accessing the images.
Sentencing him, she said the aggravating factors included the nature of the material and that “there is harm done in respect of the real child victims”.
Mitigating factors included the very early plea, that Silva Pinto took responsibility for his actions, and that he was “fully cooperative” with gardaí, the judge said.
She also noted that he has continued family support from his brother and that he expressed remorse and insight into his actions.
She said rehabilitation “must be encouraged and incentivised” and that “deterrence must be incorporated into the structure of his sentence”.
Judge Baxter sentenced Silva Pinto to 12 months' imprisonment but suspended the sentence in its entirety on strict conditions.
At an earlier sentencing hearing, Detective Garda Tracy O'Reilly told Simon Matthews BL, prosecuting, that Google made a referral to the online child exploitation unit in relation to material on an account in the defendant's name. A mobile number associated with Silva Pinto was also used to upload a number of CGI images to Google.
Gardaí obtained a warrant in February 2022 for all details relating to the defendant and the account. The defendant's home was searched on June 18th, during which gardaí seized his phone and a number of identification documents.
A total of 78 videos were found on his phone following analysis. Forty-three of these videos were classed as category one material, while the remaining 35 were category two.
A total of 784 CGI anime images, classed as category four material, were also retrieved from the Google Drive.
Admissions
Silva Pinto attended his local Garda station voluntarily twice and was interviewed on two occasions.
He made admissions and said Google had blocked his account due to the content. He said he downloaded the material from a file-sharing website.
Det O'Reilly agreed with Seamus Clarke SC, defending, that the offending took place during the pandemic and Silva Pinto told gardaí he acted out of curiosity.
She agreed that there was a “good chance” the defendant would be detected as he had used his own email address and downloaded the material to a Google Drive, not a dark website.
The garda confirmed there was no evidence that the defendant shared the images, and he handed over his phone during the search.
The court heard Silva Pinto had worked for a contract cleaning company. He has no previous convictions and has not come to garda attention since this incident.
A number of testimonials were handed to the court on his behalf.
Mr Clarke said his client's actions were “unsophisticated” and were always going to come to light when Google made a referral to gardaí.
He told the court his client came to Ireland at the age of 21 and has been living at his brother's house.
Defence counsel told the court his client has been seeing a psychologist online and is anxious to return to Brazil to continue engaging with this therapy in person. Mr Clarke asked the court for as much leniency as possible for his client.
