A 51-year-old Nigerian mother of
three who forwarded a child pornography clip which showed a child being raped
will have her sentencing finalised later this month.
Jadesola Agbalade pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly
distributing child pornography on July 20th, 2016.
Agbalade told gardaí she forwarded the video clip via the
messaging platform Whatsapp in a bid to warn a friend about the dangers of
leaving her kids alone with her boyfriend, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.
The court heard Agbalade is currently living in temporary homeless
accommodation and she has no previous convictions.
Judge Karen O’Connor initially heard evidence in the case last
month. On Thursday, November 9, she said she had received a detailed probation
report in relation to Agbalade which she wanted time to consider. She said
given the nature of the case it required very detailed consideration.
Judge O’Connor adjourned finalisation of the case
until November 21st.
Garda Enda Ledwith told Karl Finnegan BL, prosecuting, that he
arrested a man in Dublin Airport in July 2017 in relation to credit card fraud.
That man’s phone was investigated and the child pornography clip was
discovered.
The court heard the clip showed a child between the ages of two
and five being raped by a man. Upon further investigation, gardaí discovered
it is an international clip that has been in circulation since about 2014.
Gardaí traced the phone number from which the clip was sent back
to Agbalade. When they called the number, Agbalade answered and agreed to meet
them at Blanchardstown shopping centre.
She handed over her phone to gardaí and admitted to receiving the
child pornography clip and sending it on. As well as the male recipient
identified by gardaí, she told gardaí she sent the clip to a female friend who
has three young children in a bid to warn her “not to leave her children with
her boyfriend”. That woman has never been identified.
Garda Ledwith agreed with Michael Bowman SC, defending, that
Agbalade “didn’t understand the enormity of the situation” when she was
interviewed. She told gardaí, “I didn’t know it wasn’t right. I’m sorry.”
Mr Bowman told the court it was a “remarkably unusual” case. He said
there was no suggestion Agbalade profited in any way from distributing the
video clip, nor was she involved in the generation of the material.
He said the usual circumstances surrounding child pornography
distributors, who are usually found in possession of hundreds or thousands of
images, were “completely absent in this case”.
The court heard no further material was found on Agbalade’s two
phones, which she handed over to gardaí.
Mr Bowman said Agbalade had one teenage child still living with
her and two adult sons who were in university. He said she was a single mother,
who came to Ireland in 2001. There were “no concerns” regarding Agbalade’s
fitness as a mother, he said.
He submitted the stigma of a conviction would be punishment enough
for Agbalade.
“She will now be a sex
offender and as a mother, that is a significant stigma in the community,” he
said. Agbalade “comes to the court absolutely aghast at what she has allowed
herself to become involved in”, he added.
Source: Irish Times
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