By Eavan Murray - Irish Independent - 25.11.2024 - [Peter O’Malley] - [IRELAND]
A former HSE manager who distributed depraved child abuse images and expressed a fantasy about raping a two-year-old girl has been sentenced to six years in jail. Peter O’Malley, (47) of Hawthorn Place, Ballinrobe in Co Mayo, originally from The Neale, pleaded guilty to 10 sample counts of a 36-charge indictment of possession and distribution of “depraved” child abuse imagery on the online app Kik at Castlebar Circuit Court.
O’Malley, held a senior managerial post in the HSE and was central to the setting up of Covid testing centres in Mayo and Roscommon during the pandemic. He was a formerly in charge of the HSE orthotics department in Mayo, Galway and Roscommon and ran several private clinics in Mayo and Galway.
O’Malley had been charged with 36 separate counts relating to his illegal and “depraved” online activity which began in 2020 and spanned a 22-month period.
Details of the category 1 images exchanged, and the horrific and graphic messages sent by O’Malley, were laid out by Judge Eoin Garavan at today’s hearing. Detective Garda Paula Griffin of Mayo Protective Services Unit had previously told the court gardaí received information from the FBI based in Philadelphia and a joint investigation into O’Malley was co-ordinated between them.
The court heard O’Malley became the facilitator or administrator of an online private group on Kik and would only allow admittance if he was sent three videos or five images of a sufficient graphic nature by prospective members.
Online conversations O’Malley, had with other users on the Kik app, included him asking another user if he could rape his eight-year-daughter.
On another occasion, he engaged in conversations of “extreme depravity” with a user and discussed in graphic detail raping a young child.
O’Malley expressed a desire to inflict injury on a two-year-old through violent abuse and wanting to make her cry. During a search of O’Malley’s home in October 4, 2021, four devices were seized, including two mobile phones and a tablet belonging to the accused, as well as a work phone belonging to the HSE.
O’Malley’s personal phone held 128,791 images and approximately 70pc of which were of a pornographic nature both legal and illegal.
In total, 249 images included child abuse images, 62 of which were of category 1, which include child rape.
The category 1 images included content of children from three-years-old to 17 engaged in sexually explicit activity or witnessing it, of which there were children being abused by adults.
Some of the images included young children “visibly crying or screaming”. The category 2 images included content in which children were exposed.
In the course of online conversations, O’Malley expressed to other members of the group his preference for early teens or pre-pubescent children.
O’Malley also engaged several teenage girls in explicit conversations.
Judge Garavan said by facilitating the group, O’Malley had “created a market” for the abuse material which caused “children somewhere in the world to suffer”.
He said O’Malley displayed an “obsession with pornography and paedophilia” and he and the other members of the group were effectively “a type of paedophile ring”. Judge Garavan said other members of the group would get their “kicks” from discussing the abuse of their own children- a feature he said would cause “anybody’s heart to break”.
He said he found the imagining the fact children were crying and screaming in the images “most disturbing”.
Judge Garavan said that although O’Malley was co-operative to a certain degree with gardaí it was hard to accept he had “genuine remorse.”
He said children were abused to such an extent it amounted to torture and he was certain they were “physically and emotionally traumatised”.
Judge Garavan, found O’Malley’s offending was on the lower end of the upper-range or the upper end of the mid-range in terms of sentencing. Notwithstanding the “repulsive and reprehensible” nature of his crimes, O’Malley was entitled to some mitigation due to his guilty plea and the fact he had no previous convictions and was now “a pariah to all”.
Judge Garavan praised the good work of the FBI and the gardaí in bringing O’Malley to justice
Setting a headline sentence of nine years, he said O’Malley was entitled to 25pc remission leaving him with a sentence of six years and nine months.
He suspended the last nine months and ordered O’Malley to take part in a sex offenders rehabilitation programme.
O'Malley will be subject to post-release supervision for a period of three years. He will have to have prior approval from gardaí or the Probation Services before he owns, uses, or accesses a smart phone or other digital device. He will be obliged to provide gardaí with all email addresses he uses and must permit gardaí to inspect these devices at any time.
Dressed in a white shirt, navy tie and navy suit trousers, O’Malley sat with his head bowed and spoken only to say he accepted the post release terms of his sentence. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article and were abused in state run medical and health facilities, you can contact Dignity4Patients, whose helpline is open Monday to Thursday 10am to 4pm.
Dignity4Patients Commentary:- Many sexual abusers hide in plain sight. In this case a Senior HSE Manager in Ireland's Health Service. Vigilance and reporting of concerns is key to removing potential abusers from our health service. #ComplaintsReporting #PatientProtection