A German computer technician has been jailed for 18 months for downloading child pornography from the Internet.
Tobias Vollmer (22), from Halle, 20 km from Bielefeld in Germany, admitted possession of child pornography on December 14th, 1998. The offence comes under the Child Pornography Trafficking Act 1988.
Det Garda Tom Lillis told Mr Shane Murphy, prosecuting, in the Circuit Criminal Court that Vollmer had rented a room in a house at Grangepark Drive, Raheny, with a number of other people, including the owner of the computer, which everyone shared.
The owner complained to gardai that Vollmer was accessing child pornography on the computer and put a system on it that "shadowed" what he accessed.
Det Garda Lillis said Vollmer was single and unemployed when arrested, which was after he was let go from a major computer company based in Ireland. He said Vollmer had no previous convictions in the Republic or any other jurisdiction and his family resided in Germany.
Mr Patrick MacEntee SC asked Judge Elizabeth Dunne to take into account that his client was not before the court on charges of paedophilia but charges associated with pornographic material.
Mr MacEntee said Vollmer was immediately remanded in custody after he was charged and had served a month in prison. He had been on bail since then and had complied with the terms of his bail conditions. Counsel said Vollmer was willing and anxious to return to live with his family in Germany, who were very concerned about him. He felt isolated and found himself in "a sad and sorry situation" here with no friends.
Judge Dunne said that except for mitigating factors she would have had no hesitation in imposing a three-year sentence. She made an order for the forfeiture and destruction of the material.