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A MAN who admitted filming himself carrying out “vile” sex acts on an infant boy and sharing them online was jailed for six years with the final two suspended.
Judge Tom O’Donnell at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court lifted reporting restrictions to allow the identification of the defendant, 35-year-old Limerick City native Jamie Marshall.
Mr Marshall, who had 133 previous unconnected convictions, pleaded guilty to knowingly possessing child pornography, knowingly producing child pornography, knowingly distributing child pornography, defilement of a child, and using communication technology to facilitate the sexual exploitation of a child, on or before December 30, 2020.
Judge O’Donnell ordered that the specifics of Mr Marshall’s home address, where his parents continue to reside, not be reported.
The child’s mother told the court she wished to waive her right to anonymity, however the court ordered that the child could not be identified.
Judge O’Donnell said Mr Marshall was entitled to “credit” on his sentence for pleading guilty to all of the charges at the earliest opportunity, for fully co-operating with the Garda investigation, and for having been in custody awaiting sentence since May 2, 2023, without taking up bail.
However, the judge said he had to impose an immediate custodial sentence, describing Mr Marshall’s behaviour as “appalling, vile, egregious, and despicable”.
“It was depravity of the highest order with an infant child,” he added.
‘You are a dirty, ugly, smelly, horrible scumbag’
After sentence was imposed, the boy’s mother approached Mr Marshall, telling him: “You better hang yourself up in that jail. You are a dirty, ugly, smelly, horrible scumbag.”
Mr Marshall made no reply and signed a bond agreeing to keep the peace and not reoffend for a period of two years after his release.
Although he pleaded guilty to all charges, Mr Marshall denied in interviews with Gardaí that he had a sexual predilection for children.
Mr Marshall told Gardaí the abuse occurred because he was taking cocaine at the time, which he said made him “a creep”.
However, his barrister, Brian McInerney SC, told the court that Mr Marshall no longer blamed cocaine.
“He must accept what he did, no one is to blame but himself and he is deeply ashamed of his behaviour,” he said.
Mr Marshall had filmed himself abusing the boy and uploaded the sick material to the Kik social media messaging platform under the pseudonym ‘Honda22Civic’.
When the material was uploaded onto the platform, it quickly alerted the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, who in turn tipped off Gardaí, who tracked down Mr Marshall and identified the infant in mid-January 2021.
Identified through distinctive tattoos
Mr Marshall uploaded and shared 15 videos and two images to the platform of sex acts involving children, including the infant boy, as well as images and videos of a number of underage girls that were shared with him by a third party, whom Mr Marshall did not identify.
He was identified by Gardaí in the videos with the boy because of distinctive tattoos on his forearms. He had also used his own email address to set up the Kik account.
Reading a victim impact statement on behalf of her son, the woman told the court: “I never thought that something like this would come to my family. I never thought my son would be violated in such a way, it was such a shock to me, my family, and friends.”
The woman said the abuse of her son had destroyed her mental health, admitting to reporters that she had self harmed and attempted suicide “all because of what happened my son”.
The woman said she could not forgive the defendant for what he had done.
‘An absolute joke’
“I think about it every day. I would be more cautious about who I leave my son around because I can’t trust anybody after this.”
The mother spoke to reporters after the court sitting, describing the sentence as “an absolute joke”.
She said she hoped the Director of Public Prosecutions would appeal the terms of the sentence so that Mr Marshall would spend longer in jail.
“I would have preferred if he got a longer sentence because four years for such horrible acts is an absolute joke,” she said.
“I was hoping for at least 10 years because I am distraught by it.”
The woman said her son was now thriving with the support of his family circle, adding that she wanted to thank Kik, Gardaí, and the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children for having flagged and helped unearth Mr Marshall’s depraved actions.
