‘Hideous and evil act’ – man who downloaded hundreds of ‘depraved’ child sex abuse videos and images jailed

A STUDENT who searched for and downloaded child sexual abuse material “of the most depraved nature” has been jailed for 16 months.

Albaraa Turkistani (27) was caught with 272 images and 159 videos of children and babies being “molested, raped and sexually assaulted” by men, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.

Sentencing him, Judge Martin Nolan said accessing child abuse material “is obviously not a victimless crime”.

“We don’t know who the victims are, but this is real abuse, videoed and put out there,” the judge said.

He noted Turkistani regularly searched for “material of the most depraved nature”, which included babies being sexually abused.

The judge accepted Turkistani’s assertion that he did not view all the material he downloaded, but said he viewed a substantial amount.

Turkistani, of Central Park, Leopardstown, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing the images contrary to the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act at his home on April 19, 2017.

In a letter of apology to the court, Turkistani wrote: “I realise I have committed a terrible, hideous and evil act.”

He said he sought out therapy after he was arrested in order to address long-standing issues from his childhood.

He said being arrested was “the most important turning point in my life” and he has spent the past four years trying to change his life and correct his “wrongdoing”.

Detective Garda Paul Kane told Maddie Grant, prosecuting, that gardaí were alerted to the material from German Interpol and got a search warrant for Turkistani’s home.

They seized a number of devices and the material was found on one of his laptops.

Turkistani immediately admitted downloading the material, the court heard.

Sara Phelan, defending, outlined a number of incidents from Turkistani’s childhood, which the court heard contributed to his getting involved in downloading such material.

The court heard Turkistani grew up in Saudi Arabia and moved to Ireland with his mother and sister in 2015.

He is currently studying for a degree in retail and services management, Ms Phelan said.

He works part-time in a pizza shop to support himself.

“He very much wishes to contribute to society, to continue to do well in his studies and obtain employment,” Ms Phelan said.

She said he “appreciates the grave nature of the images and videos”, but submitted he has not offended since and has done well in therapy.

Ms Phelan urged Judge Nolan to consider handing down a suspended sentence.

Judge Nolan noted Turkistani took many steps to procure the material, which he searched for specifically.

“This defendant’s behaviour in possessing this material was gravely reprehensible,” he said.

He handed down a three and-a-half-year sentence but suspended the final two years and two months on a number of conditions.

Herald