A 73-YEAR- old Bandon man who had over 130 images of child sexual abuse on his electronic devices has received a three year suspended sentence.

BY OLIVIA KELLEHER

Sgt Fintan Slater said in evidence at Cork Circuit Criminal Court that gardaí went to the home of Barry Moloney in 2019 and seized a number of electronic devices.

The devices were forensically examined and contained 136 images of child sex abuse, one of which was sent to a person in the UK.

Judge Helen Boyle was told that 31 of the images involved were in the most serious category and showed children witnessing or engaged in sexual acts.

Over 70 of the images were deemed category two images which involved the exposing of private parts of children.

Defence barrister Paula McCarthy, BL, said that Mr Moloney of Ardan in Bandon was without previous convictions.

He co operated with gardai and signed a guilty plea in relation to the charges before the court.

Ms McCarthy said that her client had not come to garda attention since the offence first came to light six years ago.

He has been deemed of low risk of re offending by the probation service.

He also has sought the help of a psychologist to address his offending behaviour.

She added that Moloney has health issues and is very remorseful for his actions.

Judge Boyle emphasised that it was not a ‘victimless crime.’

She that although the offending was not at the ‘upper end of the scale’ it was still a serious offence.

Judge Boyle added that the distributing of one image was ‘one too many.’

Taking the guilty plea in to consideration and the actions taken by Mr Moloney to address his issues she opted to deal with the case in a non-custodial manner.