Man caught with haul of child sex abuse images on hard-drive avoids jail
John Sweeney, 60, appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court where he pleaded guilty to possession of the images when his house at Dore, Bunbeg was raided by Gardai on July 24th, 2019
A Co Donegal man caught with a haul of child sex abuse and anime images on a computer hard-drive at his home has avoided going to jail.
John Sweeney, 60, appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court where he pleaded guilty to possession of the images when his house at Dore, Bunbeg was raided by Gardai on July 24th, 2019.
Detective Garda Enda Jennings and Michelle Kelly were acting on information forwarded by the Garda National Protective Services Bureau.
It followed information they received that a user had uploaded child pornography from an Eircom internet account.
The account was traced to John Sweeney whose Eircom account had been activated on April 11th, 2014.
Gardai visited the house and seized three mobile phones as well as a hard-drive.
All the images including a total of 139 child abuse images and 94 anime images were found on the computer hard-drive.
Sweeney was arrested, taken to Milford Garda Station and made full admissions.
Detective Garda Enda Jennings told the court that the accused man had cooperated and told Gardai he had been going through a difficult time and was drinking heavily at the time.
The court was further told that Sweeney lived alone at the address and had no previous convictions.
Barrister for the accused, Ms Patricia McLaughlin, SC, said her client had given all his PIN numbers to Gardai and had cooperated fully and made admissions at the scene.
However, because of a backlog in investigating such cases around the country at the time, it wasn't until November 2023 that a plea could be made.
A number of the One in Four counselling service was given to Sweeney and he went about getting counselling during that time.
Ms McLaughlin said it was not the case that her client shared any of the images and had no great sophisticated knowledge of computers but was accessing adult pornography over a period of time.
Child pornography then began to pop up and the accused man then developed some curiosity on this, Ms McLaughlin added.
John Sweeney leaving Letterkenny Circuit Court. (North West Newspix)
News in 90 June 4th
Sweeney had been in a relationship for several years but this ended and he began to drink and this led to a deterioration in his mental health.
He had been diagnosed with cancer in 2015 but had recovered from this and he had a good work history up until this and had no previous convictions.
A probation report dated May 29th, 2025, said Sweeney was of a low risk of reoffending but there were some concerns for him because of his isolation and that he has limited support within the community.
The report said Sweeney had been spending hours online going down a rabbit hole of adult pornography and then further material at a time when he was leading a chaotic lifestyle, suffering from emotional distress and abusing alcohol.
However, the probation service also noted that he has expressed remorse and is aware that the images are wrong and was happy to go under the supervision of the probation services.
Community service was not recommended for Sweeney because of his medical issues but he continues to go down the path of counselling, the probation report added.
Ms McLaughlin added that Sweeney is a man of previous good character who has had the offence hanging over him for the past five years, that he lives in a small, local community and that he has taken steps towards rehabilitation.
She asked Judge John Aylmer to consider dealing with the offence by way of a non-custodial sentence considering the overall amount of images, the amount of time the accused man had the images in his possession which was estimated to be two months and how he came upon the images.
She said her client had had an "unsophisticated fall into child porn."
Judge Aylmer said that on the very early plea and the number of images involved, he placed the offence at the lower end of the scale and one which merited a sentence of two years before mitigation.
In mitigation, the Judge said Sweeney had no previous convictions, had cooperated fully with Gardai and had entered an early plea.
He also noted that five years had elapsed since his arrest and appearing in court, that the case had been hanging over Sweeney, that he had availed of rehab and that he was assessed as being of a low risk of reoffending.
For all of these factors as well as his remorse and shame, Judge Aylmer reduced the sentence to one of 18 months in prison.
He added that the question then arises that if the court might suspend all or part of that sentence and that he accepted the advance by Sweeney's barrister, Ms McLaughlin, that there were similarities to another case, the McGinty case.
Ms McLaughlin said that it was similar in many ways to the McGinty case because of the cooperation, the lack of previous convictions, the low risk of reoffending, the engagement in rehab as well as the fact that the case has hung over the accused for so long.
Judge Aylmer agreed that this was one of those unusual cases where the court can suspend the entirety of the 18 months sentence and ordered Sweeney to go under the supervision of the probation services.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Daily Mirror
39 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Jury dismisses allegations Garda 'sorted out' drivers over insurance offences
A serving Garda was today found not guilty by a jury of charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice after allegations he "sorted out" motoring offences for drivers. Garda Tom Flavin was acquitted of a total of 22 counts of allegedly attempting to pervert the course of justice by a jury at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court following an eight-day trial. Today the jury returned unanimous not guilty verdicts on 17 of the charges. Earlier the jury was directed by the trial judge, Colin Daly, to return not guilty verdicts in respect of five counts against Garda Flavin. The long serving and respected Co Limerick Garda, who had consistently denied all of the charges, was supported in court throughout the trial by a large gathering of family, friends and colleagues. On Thursday, Garda Flavin's barrister, senior counsel Mark Nicholas, instructed by solicitor Dan O'Gorman, urged the jury to acquit the garda of all of the charges, and said there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the accused. Garda Flavin was arrested and charged following an investigation by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI) and ultimately accused of knowingly entering false motor insurance details on the Garda Pulse computer records system, in an attempt to frustrate potential prosecutions against persons for driving without insurance. His trial heard that the drivers involved were stopped at routine Garda checkpoints around the country and asked by the garda present to produce their insurance and licence details at a nominated Garda station within ten days of the traffic stop. All of the drivers involved nominated Rathkeale garda station, and, later, when the investigating garda in each of the traffic stops carried out follow up checks of Pulse they were satisfied the details entered indicated that the driver in each case was insured. However, the court heard some of the drivers were actually not insured and had actually been prosecuted in court after pleading guilty to driving without insurance. Mr Nicholas told the jury Mr Flavin was an exemplary garda who had served with dedication in Croom and Rathkeale, Co Limerick, for many years. The defence barrister had urged the jury to acquit and not fall into the trap of speculation, remarking to the jury that there was radically insufficient evidence to support a conviction against Garda Flavin. "He (Mr Flavin) served his community without blemish and without any disciplinary blots - you know that from the evidence. When other Gardai came to give evidence, his superiors, they spoke of him very fondly and well - It wasn't far off gushing and they spoke with knowledge," Mr Nicholas told the jury in his closing speech, Thursday. Mr Nicholas spoke of the 'unique challenges' Gardai face in Rathkeale as opposed to other jurisdictions: 'People who live down here know it has an enormous population, transient, in and out at various times of the year. One policeman said (the population) quadruples and with that comes its own set of problems and own sets of vehicles - UK car registrations, UK insurance, some not insured, some not being entirely truthful." "We know that a certain number of times that people who were pulled up and stopped and asked for their documentation, produced bogus insurance certificates." Mr Nicholas said the charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice, is an extraordinarily, serious allegation to make against a serving Garda and that the State had "nothing close" to proving its case. The court heard evidence that persons had provided certain documents at Rathkeale garda station, where Garda Flavin was based at the time, however it was unclear who produced the documents nor was it clear what documents they produced. Fiona Murphy SC, prosecuting, had alleged that the evidence would show that Gda Flavin had "sorted out" the uninsured drivers by inputting data into Pulse to try to frustrate prosecutions against them. However, Ms Murphy had told the jury that the prosecution case was "a circumstantial case" with "no direct evidence". "Instead, the prosecution relies on indirect evidence," Ms Murphy said. Ms Murphy had explained to the jury that a statute of limitation of "six months" generally applied in respect of prosecuting offences of driving without insurance. She had argued that all of the relevant data entries into Pulse "were entered under the ID of Thomas Flavin" and she had alleged that "Tom Flavin knew they (the drivers) were not covered (by insurance) and that he entered the details onto PULSE to ensure they (appeared) covered". "Mr Flavin knew what he was doing, and he did so to ensure those persons were insured (on PULSE) when they were not, in order to ensure there was no prosecution," Ms Murphy had alleged in court. However, after deliberating for three hours and 21 minutes, the jury disagreed and unanimously dismissed all of the allegations that had been made against Gda Flavin, following an expensive and top-level GNBCI (Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation) probe.
Sunday World
2 hours ago
- Sunday World
Man jailed for peeing in Garda cell after his arrest
When he was put into the holding cell, Andrew O'Neill urinated on a cell door A Dublin man has been jailed for two months for urinating in a Garda cell in Co Donegal after he was arrested. Andrew O'Neill appeared at Letterkenny District Court after a drunken episode at Letterkenny bus station on April 3rd, 2024. The 34-year-old was drunk and becoming aggressive with a bus driver at 1.35pm on the day in question. Gardai were called and O'Neill, of Gardiner Street in Dublin, was arrested and taken to Letterkenny Garda Station and was searched. Stock image News in 90 Seconds - 6th June 2025 A quantity of drugs with a street value of €40 was found on the accused. When he was put into the holding cell, O'Neill urinated on a cell door. He was charged with causing criminal damage, being intoxicated in a public place and failing to comply with the directions of An Garda Siochana. O'Neill, who has 58 previous convictions including many under the Misuse of Drugs Act, is currently in custody on other matters. Solicitor for the accused, Mr Rory O'Brien said his client had come to Donegal from his native Dublin in a bid to kick his drug habit. On the day he was under the influence and Mr O'Brien said his client regrets all that happened. He added that when this happened he was on a "downward spiral" through alcohol and that he continues to need a significant amount of assistance for his addiction. Judge Eiteain Cunningham put it to Garda Sergeant Jim Collins that she presumed the station cell required a "deep clean" following the incident adding that this was simply "not acceptable behaviour." Judge Cunningham sentenced O'Neill to two months in prison for the criminal damage charge and took the other charges into consideration.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Co Limerick garda acquitted of charges he fixed motoring offences for drivers
A Limerick-based garda has been found not guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice after allegations he fixed motoring offences for drivers. Garda Thomas Flavin was acquitted of a total of 22 counts of allegedly attempting to pervert the course of justice by a jury at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court following an eight day trial. The jury returned unanimous not guilty verdicts on 17 of the charges. Earlier, the jury was directed by the trial judge, Colin Daly, to return not guilty verdicts in respect of five counts against Garda Flavin. The garda, who had denied all of the charges, was supported in court throughout the trial by family friends and colleagues. READ MORE Garda Flavin was arrested following an investigation by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI). He was accused of knowingly entering false motor insurance details on the Garda Pulse computer records system, in an attempt to frustrate potential prosecutions against people for driving without insurance. His trial heard the drivers involved were stopped at routine Garda checkpoints around the country and asked by the garda present to produce their insurance and licence details at a nominated Garda station within 10 days of the traffic stop. All of the drivers involved nominated Rathkeale Garda station, and, later, when the investigating garda in each of the traffic stops carried out follow up checks of Pulse they were satisfied the details entered indicated that the driver in each case was insured. However, the court heard some of the drivers were actually not insured and had been prosecuted in court after pleading guilty to driving without insurance. On Thursday, Garda Flavin's barrister, senior counsel Mark Nicholas, instructed by solicitor Dan O'Gorman, urged the jury to acquit his client of all of the charges and said there was no evidence of wrongdoing. Mr Nicholas told the jury Garda Flavin was an exemplary garda who had served with dedication in Croom and Rathkeale, Co Limerick, for many years. Mr Nicholas spoke of the 'unique challenges' gardaí face in Rathkeale as opposed to other jurisdictions. 'People who live down here know it has an enormous population, transient, in and out at various times of the year. 'One policeman said (the population) quadruples and with that comes its own set of problems and own sets of vehicles – UK car registrations, UK insurance, some not insured, some not being entirely truthful," he said. 'We know that a certain number of times that people who were pulled up and stopped and asked for their documentation, produced bogus insurance certificates.' The court heard evidence that people had provided certain documents at Rathkeale Garda station, where Garda Flavin was based at the time. However it was unclear who produced the documents nor was it clear what documents they produced. Fiona Murphy SC, prosecuting, had alleged that the evidence would show that Garda Flavin had 'sorted out' the uninsured drivers by inputting data into Pulse to try to frustrate prosecutions against them. Ms Murphy had told the jury that the prosecution case was 'a circumstantial case' with 'no direct evidence'. 'Instead, the prosecution relies on indirect evidence,' she said. She had argued that all of the relevant data entries into Pulse 'were entered under the ID of Thomas Flavin'. She alleged Garda Flavin knew the drivers were not insured and that he entered their details on to Pulse to ensure they appeared covered. 'Mr Flavin knew what he was doing, and he did so to ensure those people were insured (on Pulse) when they were not, in order to ensure there was no prosecution,' Ms Murphy said. However, after deliberating for three hours and 21 minutes, the jury unanimously dismissed all of the allegations.
