Man charged with possessing images of child sex abuse

0
14272
Galway Daily courts Man charged with possessing images of child sex abuse
credit: Robert Linsdell CC BY 2.0 'The Courthouse, Courthouse Square, Galway'

A 35 year old man with a Galway address has appeared before court charged with the possession of child sexual abuse images.

Detective Garda Gerard Carroll gave evidence to Galway District Court of arresting and charging one Piotr Novak that morning.

Garda Carroll said that the accused made no reply to the charges after being caution.

Novak, who has an address on Fairhill Road Lower, The Claddagh has been charged with three counts of knowingly possessing a total of 2,164 images of child sexual abuse on three hard drives.

The first charge is alleged to have occurred at an address in the Claddagh on December 16, 2019, relating to 959 images.

The other two charges are alleged to have occurred on a date unknown between April 30, 2017 and December 16, 2019 at the same address, for 916 images and 289 images respectively.

All of the charges are under Section 6(1) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998. The DPP has directed that the case should be prosecuted on indictment.

The prosecution had no objection to the accused man being granted bail, subject to certain conditions.

He must reside at the address provided to Gardaí, and sign on at a Garda station once a week each Monday.

Judge Marie Keane granted free legal aid for solicitor Michael Cunningham.

The case will next come before the District Court in May for the service of a book of evidence on the accused.