An American who admitted possession of child pornography is to be deported. Thomas O'Shaughnessy (45), originally from Arizona, pleaded guilty to possession of 125 images of child pornography downloaded from the Internet and stored on floppy disks.
Det Sgt Malachy Dunne told Dublin District Court that customs alerted gardai about the disks which were sent through a shipping company in Mulhuddart and were due for collection on March 30th.
O'Shaughnessy arrived that day to collect personal belongings, including the disks, signed for them and was arrested shortly afterwards. He was taken to Blanchardstown Garda station where he admitted responsibility for the material.
Gardai agreed with his solicitor that O'Shaughnessy did not intend to distribute the material. He had first come to Ireland nine years ago and decided to move here about a month ago. He had been living in hostels since and was having his belongings transported here when the offence was discovered.
The solicitor asked that as an alternative to a prison sentence a custodial warrant be issued, and acted upon only if O'Shaughnessy did not leave the State. Judge David Anderson said if O'Shaughnessy was an Irish citizen he would have imposed a 12-month sentence. But he did not believe this State should have to bear the expense of his incarceration and he should be dealt with in his own country.