Young man who recorded rape of boy on iPhone faces lengthy prison sentence

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A MAN will be sentenced next month for rape, sexual assault and the production of child pornography involving a young boy. 

During a sentencing hearing, the Central Criminal Court heard that gardaí involved in the National Protection Services obtained a search warrant for an address in a rural town in Munster where they seized three devices - an Apple laptop, iPad and iPhone.  

The man, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of the victim, has no previous convictions and was aged between 17 and 19 at the time of the offending.  

Detective Garda Patrick Lee told Roisin Lacey SC, prosecuting, that the devices were analysed and contained a video filmed in the accused man’s bedroom showing the anal rape of a young boy. The accused could be seen removing the child's tracksuit bottoms and undressing himself.  

The court heard that the accused was 18 years old at the time of the rape, and the boy was aged ten years. The accused recorded the rape on an iPhone.

He was arrested in September 2019 and was shown the video of the rape but asked for it to be turned off after 40 seconds.  
 
Detective Garda Lee said the boy was identified, and a Tusla investigation took place. The boy was interviewed by social care workers and specialist gardaí and described the assaults carried out by the accused.  
 
The boy said five sexual assaults took place in the accused’s bedroom, an alleyway, a shed and a tent. The accused would masturbate the boy and make the boy masturbate him.

He would get the boy to lie naked on him as well as rubbing and grinding his own genitals on the boy's genital area.  
 
The accused pleaded guilty to one count of anal rape, five counts of sexual assault and one count of production of child pornography on dates between January 2014 and February 2015. 

Detective Garda Kieran Byrnes from the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau gave evidence of other explicit materials which were found on the accused’s device, including videos and images involving adult males engaging in sexual activity with young boys aged between five and 14 years. Some content showed children bound and in a distressed state. 
 
Detective Garda Byrnes told Roisin Lacey SC, prosecuting, that 18,000 instant message conversations were found on the devices with the accused asking, “Have you got any pictures or videos to trade?” and “Any young boys f******?”.

The court heard that the accused would use his iPad to record the screen of his iPhone of Snapchat videos sent to him showing young males masturbating. 

A victim impact statement was read to the court by Ms Lacey, which said: “My life has changed for the worse.”  
 
“(The accused) was a person I felt I could trust. I now know and understand that I did nothing wrong; he groomed me for his own sexual gratification. In time, I hope counselling will help me live a normal life,” the victim wrote. 
 
Detective Garda Lee agreed with Michael Bowman SC, defending, that his client kept to himself and spent most of his time on his X-box.  

The garda also agreed with counsel that the accused comes from a hard-working family who was shocked and appalled by what took place. 

Mr Bowman said his client acknowledged in the probation report that he “groomed” the young boy and wanted to apologise to the victim and his family in open court. He said the accused understands the harm that he has done and said he “took advantage of the boy.” 

Counsel said his client “took a drastic wrong turn in life”. He said, “No matter when he is released, he will be marked by this and not only himself but his family also.” 
 
Mr Bowman asked the court to take into account that his client entered a guilty plea at the very earliest opportunity.  
 
Ms Lacey told the court it was the Director of Public Prosecution’s opinion that this offending fell at the serious level, meriting a 10 to 15-year sentence.  
 
Mr Justice Tony Hunt adjourned sentencing until July 28 in order to consider all the facts of the case.