Derry Crown Court: Man (44) jailed for a further 34 months after pleading to eleven charges of child sex abuse

A forty-four years old man who was jailed for twenty-eight months last March when he admitted voyeurism involved his ten years old niece, has been jailed for a further thirty-four months at the Crown Court in Derry after he pleaded to eleven charges of child sex abuse.

The defendant, who cannot be named in order to protect the identities of the young girls involved in his second set of offending, pleaded guilty to six charges of sexually communicating with female children, guilty to three charges of engaging in sexual in the presence of female children and guilty to two charges of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

He committed the offences on various dates between January 1, 2019 and February 28, 2021.

Judge Neil Rafferty K.C. said the defendant's second set of offences came to light after he'd been jailed for the voyeurism offences last March.

At that time the triage process involving the defendant's mobile 'phone had not been completed by forensic officers. Following his imprisonment the police were able to gain access to his mobile 'phone and on it they found fifty profiles involving online chats with his victims.

"As the result of the investigation into the voyeurism case his mobile 'phone was examined. The police were able to identify that the defendant had been sexually communicating with children and engaging in sexual activity in their presence as well as online including when his niece was sitting on the sofa beside him", Judge Rafferty said.

Judge Rafferty said the defendant used two particular platforms to engage in the sexual activity and the police were then able to identify two young girls the defendant had been communicating with.

A pre-sentence report stated that the defendant had, when jailed last March, sought support from a professional sex therapist counsellor in order to address his addiction to child pornography.

"He is now isolated because of his offending. Life long friends have turned their backs on him", Judge Rafferty said.

The author of the pre-sentence report wrote that the defendant "watched pornography numerous times every day and masturbated multiple times each day when watching numerous images of children".

Judge Rafferty said in arriving at his sentencing, he took into consideration the defendant had been assessed by the Probation Board of Northern Ireland as presenting a medium likelihood of re-offending and the fact that he had fully co-operated with the police since his arrest.