October 2007 Mobile phone perv handed soft sentence for child abuse images A MAN who had 74 sick images of children on his mobile phone was sentenced yesterday to just ONE MONTH in jail. Pervert Chris Fahey, 49, was caught after a Vodafone employee became concerned about suspicious internet activity on the phone. Detective Garda Geraldine Goldrick from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation told Killaloe District Court the “search” terms he used had alerted the worker’s attention. A further investigation showed a website accessed by Fahey contained images of children engaging in sexual acts. Fahey, from McKeoghs, Main Street, Ballina, Co Tipperary, was charged under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998. After reviewing the evidence, Judge Joseph Mangan said that on a scale of one to five – with five being the most serious – the images in question would be in the three to four area but that he was inclined to think they were more like four. Fahey’s solicitor Ted McCarthy pointed out that his client had no previous convictions and had pleaded guilty to the offence and had willingly co-operated with gardai. Mr McCarthy also stated this was a “one-off” incident for the accused. In sentencing, Judge Mangan said he would take into account that the defendant had no previous convictions and that he had pleaded to the offence at a relatively early stage and that he had also co-operated fully with the investigation. The state also sought to have the court record the defendant as a sex offender and that the accused be added to the sexual offenders register under the provision of the Sexual Offenders Act 2001