A teenager within the care system has been remanded in custody on charges of indecent child imagery after his brother reported him to police.
Describing him as wanting to rape children, the brother also pointed to disturbing commentary about the children murdered in the Southport tragedy which the youth referred “digging up” the graveyard.
The accused who cannot be identified because of his age is charged with possessing, making and distributing indecent images of children on dates between January 1, 2023 and August 8, 2024.
A police officer told Dungannon Magistrates’ Court the youth’s brother disclosed he had been sent naked images of children aged between 5 and 10, several times a week for over a year.
He told the accused the images were not wanted and to stop sending them or police would be informed, but this persisted.
The images were sent by Facebook, X-Box, and shown during video-calls, leaving the brother “angry and upset”.
He told police the accused “has a weird obsession with young people and wants to rape young children. He sent his brother a photograph of a report on the recent murder of three young children in Southport stating, ‘this is a graveyard for me to dig up.’”
The youth was arrested and during interview admitted owning various seized devices but refused to answer questions about them or divulge the passcodes.
Objecting to bail, the officer said while the accused has no convictions “there are numerous occurrences on police systems for sexual incidents and concerns for children. He has a history of assaulting staff in various children’s residential faciilties, particularly females with sexual undertones, some dating back to 2017”.
While accepting the accused is a youth, the officer, concluded: “The current reports and previous allegations suggest serious risk. His current residential facility has safeguarding concerns for him being among other children so he cannot return. Given the disturbing content of this matter, police have serious concerns that (youth) is a serious risk to the public, particularly children.”
A defence solicitor said the residential facility address is withdrawn “at the minute, however I understand it is the intention to have (youth) back but some risk assessments are needed”.
He urged bail to be granted with the accused released to an address approved by police and any risks could be managed.
District Judge Barney McElhome said it was often a bail condition for those in children’s care facilities to abide by all rules and instructions from staff however “Social Services don’t want that as it causes difficulties”.
He added “Staff aren’t allowed to lay a hand on a young person. If somebody walks out at 2am, the only thing to do is phone police with a concern for safety. I’ve found putting conditions on young people is largely a thankless task, mainly because no matter how often they breach they get bail granted again”.
While the accused’s devices are with police for analysis, the judge, said: “There’s nothing stopping him getting or accessing others. His refusal to hand over passcodes indicates he has something to hide. These types of images are horrific and his comment about the children murdered in Southport frankly fills me with horror of what he’s capable of.”
Throwing out the application, Judge McElhome, ruled: “He’s not fit to be released and certainly not without a full assessment as to dangerousness. There’s a risk to the public, particularly children. We all know actual children suffered for those images to be created and anyone indulging in that behaviour should go straight to prison.”
The accused will appear again at Dungannon Youth Court on August 20.
