Arrest warrant for Dublin teen on child abuse material charges after turning up late to court
Tom Tuite
A warrant has been issued for a Dublin teenage boy who turned up late for his hearing over alleged sexual offences and possessing hundreds of abuse images and videos featuring young children.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was arrested following an investigation by a Garda Divisional Protective Service Unit in Dublin and charged with offences in 2024 and 2025.
He was due to face a ruling on whether the case would be retained by the Dublin Children's Court or sent to a higher level with wider sentencing powers. The case was scheduled for 11.30am, and gardaí were present, along with a State solicitor, to assist in outlining the prosecution's case.
However, there was no sign of the accused or his parents, who arrived almost an hour later, by which stage a bench warrant had been issued for the teen's arrest, placing his family's €10,000 bail money at risk.
They were informed to contact the investigating garda to arrange the execution of the warrant, which is necessary before the case can resume and have the trial venue issue settled.
Earlier, the court heard his home was searched, and electronic devices were seized and examined, eight of which returned positive for child sexual abuse material. Among them were 65 sexual images, 44 sexual videos, 222 child exposure images, 60 child exposure videos, and one anime image.
The court heard there was a large volume of unique videos and images, many of which were "self-generated" or screen recordings. The material featured abuse of children, some as young as two years of age, it was alleged.
Electronic devices were seized from the boy and submitted to the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau. Analysis found a large volume of messages between the boy and a 12-year-old girl, Detective Garda Carol Corrigan had said.
She maintained that during the exchanges, the accused spoke of having child pornography saved on separate devices and "clearing his phone of material on a regular basis, presumably to avoid detection".
Garda interview
In his Garda interview, the schoolboy gave no account for having the material. The detective feared he could commit further offences, and during the investigation, she discovered he had "disturbing chats" with others online and "he has a clear disdain for women ".
Detective Garda Corrigan said there was a concern about the teen's offending escalating or that he would turn to violence.
A safety plan had been put in place by Tusla, the child and family agency, stating that his parents would not allow him to go online unsupervised.
The detective described the boy as being a danger to young females and actively seeking out vulnerable young girls.
The court heard the boy has stated that "he has been on the dark web and made reference to people paying a lot of money for child pornography and rape services."
The court heard he had no prior criminal convictions or warrant history.
The detective agreed that the self-generated pictures were of the accused, and the screen recordings featured young females sourced online.
