A Co Waterford man has pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography including photographs and videos he took of Chernobyl children from Belarus who were in his care.
John Peppard (52), a sweetshop owner and retired insurance company employee, from Mount Melleray near Cappoquin, was charged with possessing obscene and explicit photographs of naked children under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act.
He appeared at Carlow Circuit Court yesterday. The court heard that he had worked as a volunteer with the charity Chernobyl Children Appeal Ireland, one of 53 charities involved in providing assistance to children affected by the 1986 nuclear disaster.
Mr Peppard, who is single and a former scout leader, runs a shop which sells confectionery and souvenirs near the entrance to Mount Melleray monastery.
He has been involved in bringing children to Ireland from Belarus since 1995 and has provided four- to eight-week holidays in his home for boys aged 10-14.
In June 2003, Akram Hanna, a chemist in Lismore, Co Waterford, alerted gardaí after he became concerned about the nature of photographs which had been left in to be developed for Mr Peppard.
Sgt Pauline Sheehan of Dungarvan Garda station said that during a subsequent search of Mr Peppard's house, gardaí discovered and seized "photographs in a filing cabinet" of naked 10-14 year old Belarussian boys; video tapes which had "varying amounts of footage of children naked swimming and showering"; a laptop computer with 143 images of child pornography (99 photographs taken by Mr Peppard and 44 images which had been downloaded from internet websites); and a digital camera and flash card containing similar images.
Gardaí believe that the photos were taken in Waterford and in Belarus which Mr Peppard had visited "up to three times a year".
Sgt Sheehan told Aidan Doyle, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, that when Mr Peppard was arrested and questioned, he said "it was harmless fun and the kids enjoyed the video footage".
Mr Peppard said that when the boys were swimming, he would ask them to come out of the water "to check the red light on the camcorder" and then "the camera would zoom in on their genital area".
Michael Delaney, for Mr Peppard, said his client had asked him "to apologise to those young boys and their families".
Michael Rawlings, an auctioneer from Cappoquin, was called as a character witness and described Mr Peppard as "a very honourable, sincere, kind and just man".
Mr Delaney acknowledged that while the images were "an abuse of trust", none depicted sexual activity which "puts this case at the lower end of the scale in terms of the gravity of the offence".
He said Mr Peppard had co-operated with the Garda investigation, had not sold or distributed any of the images, was of previous good character and "is adamant that he has never sexually abused children or fantasised about doing so".
The court heard that there was a risk that Mr Peppard might reoffend but Mr Delaney said his client was attending a psychologist and, "if given time, the risk of re-offending can be reduced".
He appealed against a custodial sentence which he said was not warranted for a man "who had hitherto led a blameless life" and said a suspended sentence would be "more appropriate".
Judge Alice Doyle then asked that audio-visual equipment be set up in her chambers so that she could view the videos which gardaí had brought to the court as evidence. She adjourned the court until tomorrow.