A taxi driver who was caught in possession of explicit child abuse material described by a judge as “grotesque and offensive” has been jailed for one year.
Donal Kelly (60) was caught with 120 videos and 303 images of children and infants being sexually abused, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.
Kelly is formerly of Seagrange Avenue, Baldoyle, Dublin and more recently of Killaha, Kenmare East, Co Kerry.
He attempted to explain that he watched the material because it showed a “loving interaction” between the children and their abusers, the court heard.
Sentencing him today, Judge Elma Sheahan said the court heard of this explanation with “disbelief” and that it showed Kelly had limited insight into his offending. She noted he has since engaged in therapy and has made significant progress since he started seeing a psychologist.
Judge Sheahan noted a number of aggravating factors in the case, including the “depravity” of the child abuse material, which she described as “grotesque and offensive”.
She noted one video depicted an abused infant being force-fed urine.
She also noted that Kelly admitted his guilt and co-operated with gardaí. He has committed to getting treatment for his offending and his mental health issues. He has lost his taxi licence and will be placed on the sex offenders register.
However, the judge said the offences had passed the threshold of a custodial sentence. She handed down a sentence of 18 months with the final six months suspended on a number of conditions.
Kelly pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of child abuse material at his home address on September 3, 2021. He has no previous convictions. The court heard he is a divorced man who has raised a family.
At a previous sentence hearing, Garda Sean Parker told Garret Baker SC, prosecuting, that gardaí became interested in a certain mobile phone number and Google account and traced the owner to a property in the Baldoyle area. Gardaí applied for a search warrant and in September 2020, they carried out a search of the house.
Kelly was home at the time and, when asked by gardaí if they would find images on his phone, he replied: “Yes.”