Man jailed for distributing ‘depraved’ child sex-abuse material

A man who distributed “abhorrent” and “depraved” videos and images of children being raped has been jailed for eight years.John Weber (48), from Limerick, was named on Thursday after Judge Colin Daly lifted reporting restrictions at Limerick Circuit Court. During his trial, a detective described Weber as “an immediate threat” to children and a “danger to the community”.Weber pleaded guilty to 14 charges: one count of possession of child sex-abuse material, four counts of distributing the material and nine counts of producing the illegal material.READ MOREThe judge said it was “deeply disturbing” that Weber had, in online conversations with other paedophiles, said he wanted to “kidnap, torture and rape children” and had “invited others to travel” to a location to do this. The court heard he had 111 videos and images of child sex abuse, some featuring very young children being raped, on devices found by gardaí during searches at his home. The judge said the “majority” of the videos and images fell into Category A, the most explicit type of child sex-abuse material.Weber told others in online chats that he lived next to a creche and had stood on a balcony watching children with his genitals exposed.The court heard material found on his electronic devices included the rape of a six-month-old baby and an 18-month-old toddler. There was also a violent rape of a six-year-old girl and another of a five-year-old child dressed in fetish and bondage clothing.Weber communicated with paedophiles on social media apps including KIK and Snapchat. In these conversations, he had said he wanted to “cannibalise a child” and that he “would love to kill a child today”. The judge said the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in the US made two referrals about Weber to An Garda Síochána, which triggered an investigation led by Det James Muldowney of the Divisional Protective Services Unit at Henry Street station in Limerick.Muldowney said Weber had stated in online chats with others that he “would love to torture, rape and kill a child, and that he (Weber) has been so close a few times”.Weber also sent his therapist a video of a naked eight-year-old boy, which the counsellor immediately alerted gardaí to.Muldowney described Weber was “an immediate threat” to children and a “danger to the community”.Weber claimed he was sexually abused as a child and sexually assaulted when he was a sex worker in England. He told gardaí he was HIV positive, but was not taking medication prescribed to stop the spread of the virus and that he was having unprotected sex. In one online chat, he stated: “You can help me find lads to infect today.”He prepared a letter of remorse, which his barrister Liam Carroll told the court was “a further acknowledgment of his wrongdoing”.Weber told gardaí he had been accessing child sex-abuse material since 1997, when he was aged 19.The judge said the material found on Weber’s devices was “abhorrent” and “depraved”. He said Weber’s conversations with others may have “incited” them to act out “violent” abuse on children.He said Weber “sought out” child sex-abuse material and shared it with “other paedophiles” and did not stop after his house was first searched by gardaí.A probation report concluded that he was of “higher-than-average risk of reoffending”, the judge said, adding that it appeared the defendant “had become lost in his own depravity”.He set a headline sentence of 12 years, which he reduced to 10 years before suspending the final two years.