A 56-year-old private teacher has been jailed for four years for introducing young boys to cannabis and pornography and sexually abusing them while recording the abuse on video.
The four-year sentence was first imposed last January at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court but was suspended on condition he abstained from intoxicating substance and cannabis.
Judge Desmond Hogan reactivated the sentence after being told that the man was arrested for being drunk and disorderly on June 28th.
He said in January that the only reason he was not imposing a custodial sentence was because the man was looking after his 90-year-old mother.
Judge Hogan also reconfirmed an order he first made last October prohibiting the publication of the man's identity.
Judge Hogan heard yesterday that the man admitted to the probation services that he had been drinking. However, his counsel, Ms Anne Rowland BL, said her client had made numerous complaints to the Garda about harassment he had been receiving.
She said his hedge was burnt, he had a traffic cone thrown through his window and once that was repaired he had a plank thrown through it. He was also attacked at his home by another man and had his mobile phone robbed.
Ms Rowland urged Judge Hogan to adjourn the case so she could get a report from the Granada Institute, which he had been attending for counselling for some months and also so that he could attend a psychiatric nurse. Judge Hogan refused the application and said that because the courts no longer had the power to review sentences he was left with no option but to activate the four-year sentence that he previously suspended.
The man had pleaded guilty to one count of gross indecency on a male person under the age of 17 between March 19th, 1995, and June 7th, 1995. He also admitted possession of child pornography, namely a video cassette of himself engaging in oral sex on a young child and a postcard of a naked male adult exposing his genitals to three young boys, and possession of cannabis resin for sale or supply on February 8th, 2002.
Det Sgt Gerald Feeney said that when gardaí raided the man's north Dublin home they found a "minor cinema" in his attic with a camera and television set up and over 900 videos.
He said the man gave the drugs to boys when giving private lessons and made them watch the videos. He got one boy high and recorded himself performing oral sex on him.
Gardaí seized videos of him performing indecent acts on young boys and he gave three names of victims to gardaí. Only one was willing to make a statement.
Det Sgt Feeney said the man taught maths and junior science in two different schools for some years.
He started giving grinds, however, after he was forced to retire because he developed progressive deafness. He had since been diagnosed as an alcoholic and also a manic depressive.