Child porn man breached bail by visiting US

A 45-year-old Corrandulla man who faces sentence in November for having over 30,000 images of child pornography on his computer, was arrested at his home for breaching a condition of his bail by not disclosing to Gardaí that he owned a US passport – which he used to leave the country in recent weeks.

John Healy, from Gortroe, Corrandulla, pleaded guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court on May 16 last to two charges of being found in possession of child pornography, which contained images and videos of children posing nude and engaging in sexual activity, while he was in a public area at Riveroaks, Claregalway, and again at his home at Gortroe, Corrandulla, on October 30, 2014, contrary to Section 6(1) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998.

Healy had initially been granted bail in the District Court. One of his bail conditions was that he surrender his passport to Gardaí and not apply for a new one or any other travel documents.

Healy surrendered his Irish passport to Gardaí at the time but did not tell them he had a US passport as well.

He was remanded on continuing bail with the same condition attached when his case was listed before the Circuit Criminal Court on April 30 last.  The matter was adjourned then to July 23 when a trial date was due to be set for later in the year.

Healy then applied to the Circuit Court for the return of his Irish passport so that he could travel to the States on holidays. The application was granted and Gardaí returned his passport to him on condition he surrender it again to them on his return.

Healy surrendered his Irish passport to Gardaí on his return and then he came back to court unexpectedly on May 16 and pleaded guilty to both charges.

He was again remanded on continuing bail to November 6 for sentence.

Meanwhile, Garda Aidan Quinn made enquiries with American Airlines about Healy’s visit to the States.

The airline confirmed to him that Healy had used a valid US passport to enter and leave the States and at no time had he used an Irish passport.

State prosecutor, Conor Fahy, informed the court that he wanted Healy brought in custody before the court to explain why he had breached his bail conditions, stating Healy had made an application to the court last month “under false pretences” for the return of his Irish passport so that he could travel to the US.

Judge McCabe issued the warrant and Garda Quinn travelled to Healy’s home and brought him in custody before the court.

Garda Quinn said Healy had handed over his US passport to him at his home that day.  The Garda said he intended keeping both passports pending completion of the case.

Garda Quinn said Healy told him he had not been aware he had to hand over his US passport as well as his Irish passport as part of his bail conditions.

In reply to Judge McCabe, Mr Fahy said he would not be looking for Healy to be remanded in custody now as the US passport had been handed over.

Defence barrister, Conal McCarthy said the issue with the US passport arose because his client ‘simply did not understand’ the court order regarding his passports.

Judge McCabe observed it was ‘unusual’ that Healy would seek the return of his Irish passport from Gardaí, while knowing he had another passport which entitled him to enter and leave the US.

Accepting that Garda Quinn had possession of both passports now and that the State was not looking for Healy to be remanded in custody, the judge said he would make no order.