Irishman caught with child porn in Amsterdam gets eight-month term

AN IRISHMAN caught with hardcore child pornography at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport was yesterday sentenced to eight months in jail by a Dutch judge who called the material “shocking and disgusting”.

The 68-year-old was apprehended after arriving on a flight from Thailand.

He was named in court as “George”, plus several initial letters, and was described as coming from the Dublin area.

Judge C Candido ruled that having been in custody, he had effectively served four months of an eight-month sentence.

The judge suspended the remaining four months because he had no previous convictions and there was no evidence that he intended to sell the material to anyone else.

The court heard gardaí had searched his home in Co Dublin and found no child pornography there.

He was at Amsterdam’s airport as a transfer passenger going on to Dublin on January 17th and was arrested as he left the baggage hall, having missed his onward Aer Lingus connection on that date after arriving from Thailand.

He was caught by being picked at random from passengers.

However, the airport has an ongoing police initiative targeting men suspected of smuggling child pornography from countries where sex tourism involving juveniles is prevalent.

He had to be moved to another Dutch prison after fellow inmates in Haarlem prison threatened to kill him when they found out he was being held for possession of child pornography, the court at Schiphol East Oude Meer heard.

Customs officers at Amsterdam’s airport discovered five DVDs – two of which were described by public prosecutor Marjanne Eising as among the most hardcore child pornography on the market – in the accused man’s hand luggage.

In a letter read by the judge, George’s daughter spoke of the family’s shock and dismay on learning of her father’s arrest. He has a heart condition and they were concerned for his health, she added.

Her father had been widowed 11 years ago, and the following year a friend had introduced him to Thailand.

Since then he has made 10 trips to Thailand.

Defending counsel said her client had made a foolish error. But it was not abnormal for older men to enjoy holidays in Thailand, where age was not a barrier, making it “enticing to go there and have a very good holiday enjoying the company of adult women”.

The accused had said: “All my life I was careful. I have never done anything wrong before and I am very sorry. I made a very bad mistake.”

He said that he was disgusted at the idea of anyone having sex with children.

Admitting that he liked to look at pictures of naked young women, George said he was approached in a bar in Pattaya the night before his holiday ended, shown a pile of DVDs, and asked whether he was interested in buying them.

He said he looked at the cover of one showing a naked young woman, and agreed to buy them because he was “a bit tipsy”.

He claimed he had no idea that the DVDs contained hardcore or any child pornography.

Calling for him to be jailed for 12 months, the Dutch public prosecutor said people like him should be severely punished because by purchasing such material they encouraged the trade in child pornography to flourish.

Irish Times

March 3, 2010

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/irelan...4265502394.html

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