Boy (13) uploaded sexual abuse photographs of sister (6) to Discord social media channel
The court heard that the boy, who is from the south of the country, had unsupervised access to the internet from a very young age and later told gardaí that he first viewed pornography when he was six years old.
A local sergeant accepted that the family were very isolated in a rural area. Their father was deceased and the children were no longer attending school.
The sergeant told Eilis Brennan SC, prosecuting, that gardaí were alerted that inappropriate images had been uploaded to the social media platform Discord and the connected account was traced back to the children's home.
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The young girl was instantly identifiable to the gardaí as the subject of the images that had been uploaded.
The now 16-year-old, who is currently in a residential treatment centre for minors who sexually offend, came forward to the Central Criminal Court on signed pleas.
He pleaded guilty to six incidences of oral rape, nine charges of production of what is legally termed as child pornography and five charges of distribution of that material on dates between June 2022 and December 2022.
The sergeant accepted that the teenager had unrestricted internet access from the age of five years old and agreed that he was manipulated by others online to post these photographs.
Ms Brennan read into the record a victim impact statement that had been prepared by the now eight-year-old girl.
The girl said she 'feels much happier' now and that the foster family, with whom she has been living since the gardaí called to her home in December 2022, 'feels like home'.
'When I think about him I feel a bit scared,' the girl continued. She said she would really like her brother to write her a letter of apology because she said when people do bad things they 'say sorry'.
The girl said she told her mother 'when it first happened' but Ms Brennan said 'no action was taken'.
Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring noted the child has no control over when and where the images of her may appear again on the internet.
The judge said as the girl gets older, she will realise that she is 'out there for others like her brother to get sexual gratification from seeing her abused'. Ms Justice Ring said these are the long term impacts for her, which she said the child is hopefully unaware of at the moment as an eight-year-old girl.
The judge said she had 'a huge set of reports' in relation to the accused but only a paragraph, the victim impact statement, in relation to 'the other child who also has rights'.
Ms Justice Ring said she wanted further information as to how the abuse has impacted the girl, asking the investigating sergeant to speak to others – like her care worker – that may be able to provide more information to the court.
Ms Justice Ring said there are other impacts, that the child as an eight-year-old may not be aware of and said she wanted further information. She adjourned the case to July 21st to allow for further reports.
'What you have done is horrendous,' Ms Justice Ring said addressing the 16-year-old. 'If you were an adult you would be going out that door- that is the custody door. You need to be conscious of the jeopardy you are in the moment.'
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