A man in Kerry has been handed a suspended sentence for possessing child sexual abuse material.
47-year-old Seamus Curran, of Park Chuimin, Kilcummin, pleaded guilty to possessing 24 images of child sexual abuse material and an explicit conversation.
Summarising the facts of the case at Tralee Circuit Court, Judge Alec Gabbett said Gardaí searched Mr Curran's home in Callinafercy, Killorglin, in 2019.
No illegal material was found on either his phone or iPad, but a laptop was found to contain 24 images.
Four of these were in the most serious category, 19 were classified as child exposure images, and one was an anime image.
The laptop also contained an explicit conversation, apparently between an adult and a child.
Mr Curran had deleted the files several years before Gardaí searched his devices, but they were able to recover them from the laptop's memory.
Judge Gabbett said there were no aggravating factors "as such".
Among the mitigating factors considered during sentencing were that Mr Curran had not shared the images and had not come to Garda attention since.
Furthermore, he had not viewed any videos depicting child abuse and was considered to have viewed a relatively low number of images.
His good work history was also considered a mitigating factor.
Mr Curran is said to be at a low risk of reoffending, and Judge Gabbett accepted he was remorseful and that his imprisonment "would not benefit society".
Judge Gabbett sentenced Seamus Curran to twelve months in prison, suspended for three years on his own bond.
