A 21 year man who posed as a teenage girl on Facebook in order to sexually exploit young boys will receive his sentence later this month.
The young man, who is believed to have been 19 at the time of the incidents, apparently convinced three young boys aged between 13 and 14, to send him sexually explicit pictures of themselves and to masturbate via an online video.
It is understood that the young man will plead guilty to more similar offences later this month.
The unnamed man told gardai that he didn’t think there was anything wrong with what he was doing and that he only did it to explore his sexuality. Sitting Judge Mary Ellen Ring previously stated that she would deal with the issue of revealing the young man’s identity today, however the case was adjourned as she was unable to finalise it.
Judge Ring had remanded him in custody and ordered him to undergo further risk assessment by the Probation Services at the last hearing. Although current Judge Martin Nolan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court adjourned the case to later this month.
The defendants counsel, Padraig Dwyer SC said his client was due to be arraigned on Tuesday on similar offences committed during the same time period. Mr Dwyer has requested that Judge Ring deal with both cases for sentence on the adjourned date of October 29, next. Judge Nolan has since remanded the man in continuing custody until that date.
The young Dublin man pleaded guilty to three charges of exploitation of a child and two counts of defilement of a child at locations in Dublin on various dates between April and October 2012. Mr Dwyer told judge Martin that his client is a young man with a full time job who has no previous convictions and who has not offended since.