A Dublin man (59) found with child pornography purchased on the Internet has been fined €1,000 and given a two-year suspended sentence.
Richard Hamilton, of Sydney Avenue, Blackrock, pleaded guilty to possession on May 27th, 2002, of the images uncovered during a Garda search of his personal computer at home.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard the images showed children of both sexes engaged in sexual activities with each other and with adult males.
Judge Desmond Hogan said that within the context of the seriousness of the crime itself Hamilton's offending was on the lower end of the scale. Hamilton had neither redistributed the material nor had he engaged in discussions about them on Internet chat lines.
Judge Hogan said he was suspending the sentence based on reports from the Granada Institute and the Probation and Welfare Services that the risk of his re-offending was very low. As a condition of the suspension, he is to continue to attend therapy and counselling at the institute.
Hamilton's purchase of the images had come to light under Operation Amethyst, a Garda investigation into child Internet pornography.
Working in cooperation with US authorities and Interpol, gardaí had been notified by the US Postal Services Inspection Unit that Hamilton appeared on a list of people who had purchased the images on the Internet using their credit cards.
When confronted by gardaí, Hamilton admitted he had purchased the images for his "own gratification" and explained he had been having marital problems for a long time.