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Man who downloaded child abuse images of kids as young as six jailed for 15 months

Gerard Hannick (58), an unemployed single man of Mountmellick, Co Laois, pleaded guilty to possession of child sex abuse images at his home

Today at 18:35

A Laois man who claims he believed he was protecting young children from harm by posing as a young girl online has been jailed for 15 months for a child sex abuse offence.

Gerard Hannick (58), an unemployed single man of Kirwan Park, Mountmellick, Co Laois, pleaded guilty to possession of child sex abuse images at his home on August 23, 2021 contrary to Section 6 of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998 at a sitting of Portlaoise Circuit Criminal Court.

The court heard that nine videos and two images, which depicted young girls as young as six years old engaged in sexual activity, had been downloaded by the defendant onto his Samsung Galaxy phone over a number of years.

Hannick told gardaí that he had created a profile posing as a young girl on social media in order to talk to men online.

The court heard that the accused had no friends and suffered from social isolation.

At a sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Judge Keenan Johnson noted that Hannick had made full admissions to gardaí about his offending and cooperated with their investigation after he had been arrested in November 2021.

They included admissions that he was sexually aroused by child sex abuse images and had been looking at such material for around one and a half years.

The judge said Hannick accepted his actions were wrong and were exploiting young children.

However, he said the defendant’s offending occurred over a considerable period of time and involved a level of premeditation.

Judge Johnson also remarked that possession of child sexual abuse images was not a victimless crime.

He claimed Hannick’s actions were designed to give himself a sense of power and that he had felt respected in online chat rooms without having any thoughts whatsoever for the impact of his behaviour on his victims.

The judge said his thought process was “so skewed” that he believed he was protecting other children.

He noted that Hannick maintained that he believed the girls in the images were 13 “even though it is obvious they were six.”

However, the judge acknowledged that Hannick, who has no previous convictions, had entered an early guilty plea and had expressed remorse and shame for his offence.

He also remarked that the defendant had been disowned by his siblings and wider family and would suffer isolation as well the consequences of having his name placed on the register of sex offenders.

The judge noted that Hannick had used sexually exploitative material “as a way of coping with the world” and that the One in Four charity had assessed there was a risk that he could offend again in future.

He expressed concern that Hannick had declined to make changes to his behaviour when counselled by One in Four that would improve his ability to not pose a threat as well as demonstrating little insight into the impact of his use of sexually exploitative material.

Judge Johnson said he had indicated at a previous sitting of the court that he would consider giving the accused a suspended sentence if he had brought €6,000 to court.

However, he said Hannick’s financial inability to make such a payment combined with concerns about his lack of engagement with One in Four meant that he had no option but to impose some custodial sentence.

The judge sentenced Hannick to two years and six months in prison but suspended the final 15 months for a period of four years on a number of conditions.

They included that he keep the peace for a period of five years and submit himself to supervision by the Probation Service and follow any directions made by it for a period of 18 months on release from prison.