A MAN WHOSE mother reported him to gardaí after finding child pornography on his phone has asked to be put into custody because he fears for his life.
Liam Corr (21) was granted bail in April pending sentence at the end of this month.
However his barrister made an emergency application yesterday and told the court Corr believed he was in immediate danger due to the nature of the charges against him.
Defence counsel Sandra Frayne BL told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that Corr had been staying in a hostel and “he heard something today which caused him to believe he was in imminent threat of being harmed.”
She said he came straight to his solicitor’s office and asked that the application be made. Frayne said it has come to a point where he couldn’t stay at the hostel and he had nowhere else to go. His mother was aware of the situation.
Judge Melanie Greally said she was considering imposing a custodial sentence on Corr when his matter was due to be heard on 26 June. She agreed to remand him in custody until then.
Movie files
In April the court heard Corr had previously been banned by his mother from using a smart phone after she caught him accessing adult material on it.
When gardaí subsequently analysed the device they discovered 28 movie files.
Thirteen showed under-age girls engaged in sexual activity with both adults and other children, 14 depicted similarly aged children engaging in more explicit sexual activity and a final video showed a girl engaged in bestiality with a dog.
Corr of Oliver Plunkett Road, Dun Laoghaire, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possessing and distributing child pornography on dates between 26 July, 2015 and 13 August, 2014. He has no previous convictions.
Garda Charlie Dempsey told Caroline Cummings BL, prosecuting that Corr had been using a file-sharing app on the smartphone to share the videos.
Corr admitted in garda interview that he encouraged others users to view the videos so he could trade material with them. He said he deliberately sought out like-minded people.
“Significant psychological issues”
He agreed with gardaí that two children depicted in the movies were aged nine and between 10 or 12 years old. He accepted the videos were child pornography.
Dempsey agreed with Patrick Marrinan SC (with Frayne), defending that the Director of Public Prosecutions had previously dropped a case against Corr.
He accepted that as part of that process Corr was assessed by the Probation Service and deemed to be at a low to moderate risk of reoffending.
The report also strongly recommended that he get help in addressing his “significant psychological issues”.
Marrinan handed in a psychological report which he said outlined difficulties Corr had with his father as a young child.
He said he suffered physical abuse and the man later took his own life when Corr was eight years old.
Counsel said the report also dealt with “a serious matter” that occurred in Corr’s childhood.
He said his client had been “candid” in cooperating with the psychological assessment “in an effort to try and get treatment for what are significant problems”.
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