Man to be sentenced over ‘horrific’ child abuse material found in Donegal

A man found in possession of what was described as ‘horrific’ stash of material showing children being raped and sexually abused will be sentenced next week in Letterkenny.

Paul Cowell, a 54-year-old with an address in Meenacladdy, Gortahork, admitted being ‘aroused by child pornography’, Letterkenny Circuit Court heard.

Cowell was arrested after Gardaí, led by Detective Garda Enda Jennings, swooped on his home on December 11, 2021.

Hundreds of images and video files showing ‘extreme child pornography’ were found on a laptop, Detective Garda Jennings said. Cowell admitted owning the laptop, which was seized by Gardai, and admitted downloading the images.

Detective Garda Jennings told the court that Cowell searched on the dark web for the material, which depicted boys and girls of all ages.

Cowell ‘sought like-minded people’ and was engaged in a group chat on Zoom with a conversation centring on the rape of babies.

Evidence of some of the graphic nature of the content was given in court by Detective Garda John Condron, a specialist in cyber crime.

Detective Garda Jennings said some of the material was ‘horrific’ and was placed as being in the category of the highest severity of images of child sex abuse.

Cowell is charged with having 198 movies depicting extreme sexual and physical abuse of both male and female prepubescent children and babies being abused by adult males and females and other children.

He is also charged 303 images depicting extreme sexual abuse of both male and female prepubescent children and babies being abused by adult males and females and other children.

Cowell is also charged with having four movie files of prepubescent boys and girls with their genital area clearly visible.

The offences are contrary to Section 6(1) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998

The charges relate to dates unknown between January 1, 2016 and July 27, 2018 at Meenacladdy, Gortahork.

Interpol helped identify the user of certain IP addresses and Cowell was tracked down with his laptop assessed by the Garda Cyber Forensic Unit.

Mr Shane Costello, SC, barrister for Cowell, said his client was ‘until recently, unblemished’. Mr Costello said Cowell medically retired from employment in the late 1990s.

His marriage of 31 years broke down as a result of this incident, but his erstwhile wife wrote a letter of reference in which she said Cowell had been ‘an excellent father and husband’.

“He has no particular excuse as to how he came to commit these crimes,” Mr Costello said. “He became increasingly bored and accessed pornography. He described himself as being addicted to the high of watching pornography. ‘Ordinary’ pornography wasn’t doing it for him and he began to watch more extreme pornography.”

Mr Costello told the court that Costello sought the assistance of his doctor upon his arrest and was referred for counselling.

“The intention is that he will engage again I counselling to establish that he is someone who can be left in the community,” Mr Costello said. “He considers himself to have been an addict, which is obviously inexcusable. He accepts the general gravity of the case and will accept the punishment.”

Cowell, who has no previous convictions, has been in custody since December 11, 2021.

Judge John Aylmer remanded Cowell in custody and adjourned the matter to next Tuesday, October 25, for sentencing.