A FORMER NATIONAL College of Ireland network engineer has been jailed for 18 months for sharing horrific videos featuring sexual abuse of children as young as eight.
Steve Jennings (34) of Gleann Petit Park, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child sex abuse materials (CSAM) from February 15 – 20, 2024.
The offences are punishable by five and 14-year sentences, respectively.
Detective garda David Mead, with the protective services unit for Westmeath and Meath, agreed with prosecutor Cathal Ó Braonáin that gardaí received a notification from the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It concerned a Kik profile linked to a specific email account.
Judge Keenan Johnson heard at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court that the accused uploaded child sex abuse videos to Kik 15 times over the five days.
The first clip, posted twice, lasted 19 seconds and showed an adult male masturbating and ejaculating on an eight-year-old girl.
The second clip was 27 seconds, and again featured a girl of the same age being raped, and the same clip was shared on Kik two more times.
There was a two-second video of a child aged about 12 being abused by a man, and it was uploaded two other times.
Another 37-second video uploaded four times showed a child masturbating with an object.
A 14-second clip of a child, thought to be aged nine, with a penis in her mouth, while the final video was 20 seconds, with a 13-year-old girl exposed.
The married IT specialist’s home was searched, and gardaí seized his devices, but only found a single image involving a young girl on his phone.
He informed gardaí that he began using adult pornography and from there encountered CSAM of children aged 10 – 12.
It was established that he used chat rooms to share 500 – 1,000 images or videos, mainly adult pornography.
However, Detective Garda Mead explained that there would have been one CSAM video for every five uploaded videos. He had also engaged in about 1,000 exchanges of explicit messages over the same five days and maintained that he preferred teens.
The accused had maintained that he had to upload material to stay a member of a chat group.
Jennings had no prior convictions and furnished the judge with a letter of apology and spoke in court about his remorse.
The court heard he has been attending psychotherapy at the Thinkwell Clinic and had a trauma background from being abused twice as a young child and being groomed in his mid-teens by an American woman online who posted pictures of him on various internet sites.
John Hayden SC, defending, said his client became drawn into the activity during the COVID lockdown, but never paid for the material. The court heard that he had lost his career, and the defence submitted that the risk of reoffending was practically nil.
Jennings apologised in court, and the judge noted he had suffered from long-term depression and exhibited a distorted understanding.
He had also made an attempt on his own life a day after his arrest.
The judge also said the case would bring ignominy to the accused and his wife, a collateral victim because Jennings had become a social pariah.
He added that the accused would also become a registered sex offender, another punishment which would impact his chances of future employment.
Finalising the case on Wednesday, he said these crimes exploited the most vulnerable, and Jennings’ case warranted a four-year sentence.
However, he found that the accused had done everything possible to rehabilitate himself and suspended the final two years and six months, subject to conditions.
Jennings must not reoffend for five years and refrain from posting on or using any pornography websites, continue therapy and engage with his GP for his mental health issues. He has to remain on supervised probation for two years.