A SENIOR GARDA has told a court that a Shannon man uploading 19 girls’ Facebook profile pictures to a pornographic site “was an enormously stupid thing to do”.

A number of the captions accompanying the photos uploaded by Evan Meehan, aged 24, described the girls engaging in various sexual acts with their fathers.

At Ennis District Court, Inspector Tom Kennedy also stated that what Evan Meehan did “was totally inappropriate”.

However, the 24-year-old is set to escape without any sanction being imposed after Judge Patrick Durcan said that he would strike the 30 charges out against Mr Meehan if there are no new issues when he comes back before the court on December 19th next.

Judge Durcan said that the matters before the court “are very serious”.

In court, Judge Durcan said that he wanted to compliment Meehan on the “manliness” he has shown in facing up to his problems and by fully co-operating with the authorities, including the Probation Service.

Guilty plea

In the case, Meehan of Dernish Lawn, Shannon has pleaded guilty to uploading 30 photos of local teenage girls to a pornographic site between October 2013 to the end of June 2014.

The 30 charges relate to 19 girls with 17 having Shannon addresses with two other girls living in the nearby villages of Sixmilebridge and Newmarket-on-Fergus.

All of the girls were Facebook friends of Meehan while most went to the same secondary school in Shannon as him.

Meehan acted alone in the crime and the offences took place during a period when he was aged 19 and 20.

The offences came to light after a number of girls presented themselves to Shannon Garda Station on 30 June 2014.

Meehan has no previous convictions and Kennedy said that no new issues relating to Meehan have come to notice since he first came before the court.

In court today, solicitor for Meehan, Stiofán Fitzpatrick said that “this matter has been going for the past five years and in court for the past two years”.

Fitzpatrick said that Meehan has been very forthcoming with the Gardai and the court.

“Meehan hasn’t sought to delay anything and he has met everything head on,” Fitzpatrick said.

He added that Meehan “has been fully co-operative – he got his own counselling organised by himself with the support of his family”.

Fitzpatrick said that Meehan’s father has been with him every day in court.

‘Really anxious’

The solicitor said that Meehan is really anxious to have the matter finalised and put his hands up at all stages.

“Mr Meehan has done everything humanly possible to try to reform and progress from this and put this in the past,” Fitzpatrick said.

He added that Meehan has completed an aircraft mechanic course and is now looking for work.

Judge Durcan remanded Meehan on bail to re-appear before the court on 19 December and will remain under the supervision of the Probation Service until then.

Judge Durcan said that if there are no new issues between now and then, he would strike the matter out on that date.

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