Babysitting uncle livestreamed abuse of his sleeping 12-year-old nephew
A "trusted" uncle was babysitting when he livestreamed a web chat to a random man online as he sexually assaulted his sleeping 12-year-old nephew, a court has heard.
The child's mother, who was away, received a 1.45 am phone message from her distraught son saying: "Mam, I need to tell you something.'
The Midlands man, in his forties, also secretly filmed a friend's daughter using the toilet, and pleaded guilty to sexual assault, possession and production of child pornography on dates in 2021 and will be sentenced in November.
He is not being identified to protect the victims' right to anonymity.
At Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Keenan Johnson berated the accused for his exploitation of vulnerable children through these horrific crimes.
Revoking his bail and ordering psychiatric and probation reports, Judge Johnson emphasised that this type of offence carried a significant penalty because of the unprecedented damage and hurt caused to the victims and the wider family involved.
Detective Garda David Mead from the Divisional Protective Services Unit outlined how the boy detailed what happened in a specialist interview.
He fell asleep on a couch but woke to find the accused rubbing his penis with the palm of his hand under his clothes.
He revealed that he awoke because of the glow of his uncle "shining his phone in his face" and saw "a random guy". It was an adult, in the web chat on the screen, "touching himself as well".
The terrified boy ran to his room and hurriedly sent a Snapchat message to his mother.
He told gardaí, "I felt like puking, really scared".
The court heard his mother returned and asked what had happened, and he told her everything was okay.
However, her concerns resurfaced when she later learned that her brother had befriended another young boy and allowed him to take showers in his workplace.
The victim's parents broached the subject again, and this time their son disclosed the abuse.
In a victim statement, the boy's mother, holding back tears, turned to face her brother, saying her son had "trusted and loved you so much, and you took advantage of him.
She spoke out, saying the boy has been devastated and left confused.
"I have lost my brother, and best friend that I truly loved. I am so angry," adding, "you have ripped our family apart"
Concluding her impact statement, she highlighted how he denied it and dragged out the case for three years, and told him, "You caused the heartbreak that comes with that; today is the day I get justice".
Gardaí searched a property the man used and found his phone also had two covert video recordings of a girl aged around 10 to 12 using the toilet and showing her vagina. His voice could be heard in the background of the videos, which lasted about 46 seconds.
The girl's mother was shocked when gardaí contacted her. She had known the man through work and found him immature, and noticed he had been texting and inviting her son to come over.
The mother of the girl he covertly recorded told him he stole her daughter's innocence, and she no longer feels safe, suffers distress and anxiety.
The man sat with his head bowed and was in tears, but he did not address the court.
During his garda interview, he attempted to convince investigators that the phone's rear camera had activated when the flashlight was turned on, which was later found to be impossible.
He told gardaí that he was homosexual and not interested in girls.
He also had software to wipe his computer and had attempted to delete the Tor browser used to access the 'dark web' and another app for anonymous internet use.
However, gardaí recovered a two-minute video of one of his web chats where he spoke to a child. The man initially thinking it was a girl, but said "even better" on hearing it was a boy.
Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court
News in 90 Seconds - July 10th
He encouraged that child to expose himself and masturbate. He did not show his face in the video chat, but the background matched his room.
The court heard that he was using an online platform for random web chats with individuals.
The charges can carry maximum sentences of five, ten, and 14 years.
He had prior convictions for public order, criminal damage, driving offences, and failing to appear in court.
The defence said the accused had a difficult childhood and had been referred to a psychiatrist, but was still on a waiting list.
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