Calls for sentencing reform as online child sex abusers walk free
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Child safety organisations have raised concerns at the sentences imposed for online child sex abuse in Ireland.
Their calls follow a 27-year sentence handed down in the North for sextortion. On December 10, David Andrews, aged 55, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for sextortion offences against 46 children and one vulnerable adult.
It followed another notorious case in the North.
In October, 26-year-old Alexander McCartney received a life sentence for the online sexual abuse of 70 children and the manslaughter of one of them, a 12-year-old girl in the US who took her own life as a result of his blackmail.
The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) said that, from their monitoring of relevant cases in Ireland in recent years, it was of concern that “many perpetrators end up with suspended sentences”.
Hotline.ie chief executive Mick Moran said the recent cases in the North did make sentences in Ireland “appear light”, though he added that those cases were “particularly egregious”.
He said laws in Ireland need to ensure that there are “maximum sentences” to suit a similar crime here.
Emer O’Neill of Cari (Children at Risk in Ireland), a therapy organisation for sexually abused children, said the cases across the border were “important” examples of crimes like sextortion being treated by the legal system with the “seriousness they deserve”.
In the case of Andrews, he posed as a teen boy on social media and groomed teenagers.
He extracted sexually intimate images of them and then used the images to blackmail them.
The crime is known as sextortion and catfishing.
Andrews has to serve a minimum of 13.5 years initially, with the balance of his term of imprisonment decided by a parole board.
ISPCC head of policy and public affairs Fiona Jennings said the term was a “significant sentence” and reflected the reality that online child sexual abuse and exploitation was “nefarious” and in the judge’s words in the case, “utterly sickening”.
She said the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 (Coco’s Law) made intimate image abuse punishable, on indictment, by a maximum term of seven years.
She said the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998 makes the production or distribution of child abuse imagery subject to a maximum term of 14 years.
Ms Jennings said a third piece of legislation, the Sexual Offences Act 2017, makes the use of information and communication technology to facilitate sexual exploitation of a child punishable by up to five years.
“From our monitoring of the sentencing in these cases over the last number of years, it is concerning that many perpetrators end up with suspended sentences,” she said.
Ms Jennings said this was not a victimless crime:
In a case last month in Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court, Stephen Seery, aged 22, received a three-year suspended sentence for trying to blackmail a young girl into having sex by threatening to share intimate images that he had extracted from her.
This sentence also took into account a violent assault he carried out on a garda when she posed as the girl and went to meet Seery.
Mr Moran said the sentences handed down to McCartney and Andrews “does make our sentence appear light” but said they were “particularly egregious” cases and that there were “aggravating factors”.
Meanwhile, he said that reports of sextortion to Hotline.ie have risen from 88 cases in 2022 to 274 in 2023.
He added: “Upping the maximum sentence is something we would get behind, to give the courts the option of similar sentences for when a case of this extreme comes before them.”
Ms O’Neill said sexual abuse of children, including sextortion, have “profound and long-lasting effects on victims”. She said:
“Therefore it is crucial that the legal system addresses these crimes with the seriousness they deserve, ensuring that perpetrators face appropriate consequences.
“The [Andrews] case in the North, where sextortion was treated with significant legal action, serves as an important example.”
She said it is important for laws in Ireland to be kept under review and assess if the penalties are robust enough.
However, she said it was essential to not only focus on penalties “but to strengthen victim support services, education on consent and online safety and measures to prevent such crimes from occurring in the first place”.
Ms O’Neill said judges and gardaí should receive “ongoing training” to understand the complex nature of sexual violence.
Ms Jennings called for a “national and multi-agency strategy” for responding to child sexual abuse, as previously recommended by the Garda Inspectorate.
She urged more resources — technical and personnel — for gardaí.
Ms Jennings said while sentencing had a role, that the country “won’t legislate” its way out of this problem.
She said: “We need proper relationship and sexuality education to teach children about appropriate and inappropriate behaviour from a young age; we need to rethink how we support and engage with those who are thinking about harming children in this way; and we need robust online age verification on platforms [so that an adult cannot portray themselves as a child].”
• If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, click here for a list of support services. Childline is on 1800 666666, and you can also visit Cari.ie.