A “trusted” uncle who livestreamed a web chat to a random man online as he sexually assaulted his sleeping 12-year-old nephew has been jailed for 10 years.
The midlands man, in his 40s, also secretly filmed a friend’s daughter using the toilet, and pleaded guilty to sexual assault, as well as possession and production of child pornography on dates in 2021.
He is not being identified to protect the victims’ right to anonymity.
“Predatory, systemic, calculated and plain evil,” were some of the words Judge Keenan Johnson used to describe the crimes.
The man who was babysitting when he abused his sister’s son, sat with his arms folded for most of his sentence hearing at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court on Friday.
In sentencing, the judge emphasised the breach of trust, the lack of remorse and the hurt caused to the injured parties and to the defendant’s wider family. He was found to be at a high risk of reoffending.
Defence counsel Andrew Callan asked the judge to note her client’s own abuse experience at a young age may have skewed his view of the world and approach to children.
At an earlier hearing of the evidence last July, Det Garda David Mead 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 said he woke 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 boy ran to his room and hurriedly sent a Snapchat message to his mother.
He told gardaí, “I felt like puking, really scared”. His mother returned and asked what had happened and he initially convinced her everything was okay.
However, her concerns resurfaced when she later learned 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 last July, the boy’s mother turned to face her brother, saying her son had “trusted and loved you so much, and you took advantage of him”.
She said the boy had been devastated and confused.
“I have lost my brother, and best friend that I truly loved. I am so angry,” adding, “you have ripped our family apart”.
The judge was told gardaí searched a property the man used and found his phone also had two covert video recordings of a girl aged 10-12 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 him through work, found him immature, and noticed he had been texting and inviting her son over.
In court, she told him he had stolen her daughter’s innocence and the child no longer feels safe, suffers distress and anxiety.