Man had thousands of child abuse images on computer
The sentencing of a Corrandulla man who had thousands of images and videos of children being sexually abused stored on his computer, has been adjourned to next May.
John Healy (46), from Gortroe, Corrandulla, pleaded guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court on May 18 last to two counts of being found in possession of child pornography, which contained images and videos of children posing nude and engaging in sexual activity, in a public area at Riveroaks, Claregalway, and again at Gortroe, Corrandulla, on October 30, 2014, contrary to Section 6(1) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998.
His solicitor, Gearoid Geraghty, and barrister, Conal McCarthy, were appointed under the Free Legal Aid Scheme last April and May respectively to represent Healy at his future trial.
Mr McCarthy successfully applied to the Circuit Court judge in May for the Legal Aid certificate to be extended to cover the cost of a senior barrister being appointed to the case also, owing, he said at the time, to the nature of the charges his client was facing.
Judge Rory McCabe granted the application for senior counsel to be appointed to represent Healy and he adjourned the case to July 23, for a trial date to be set.
However, the case was brought back before the court unexpectedly on Friday May 18 last, when Healy pleaded guilty to both charges.
Following his client entering the guilty pleas, senior counsel, Mr Bernard Madden, applied to the court to have the Free Legal Aid certificate extended to cover the cost of obtaining various expert reports on his client. He also asked for sentence to be adjourned to November to allow him time to obtain the reports and prepare a plea in mitigation.
Judge Rory McCabe granted the applications and remanded Healy on bail to last week’s court for sentence.
Mr Madden informed the court on Tuesday he thought he had asked the court last May for a probation report on his client prior to sentence taking place, but it appeared from the court file that no report was obtained.
He asked for a further adjournment of sentence stating that a probation report would be very helpful to the court.
Judge Rory McCabe directed the preparation of a probation report on Healy and adjourned sentence in the matter to Thursday, May 21 next year.