An Armagh man who masturbated while on a FaceTime call with a six-year-old girl walked free from court this week after he was handed an Enhanced Combination Order.
Sentencing Brian McAuley at Newry Crown Court on Tuesday, Judge Paul Ramsey KC said while the case merits a jail sentence it was his view that ten months would be a just sentence.
He explained that because “this case is one where I would have thought the appropriate sentence is one of under 12 months imprisonment, where I come to such a conclusion and only where I come to such a conclusion, I can consider the alternative Enhanced Combination Order.”
The judge said there was “clearly a motivation to change” on the part of the defendant so as a direct alternative to what would be a fairly short prison sentence, the ECO offered “more intensive packaging.”
Ordering McAuley to complete 40 hours of community service and two years on probation, Judge Ramsey told the court he believed the ECO “will help him and his family and also protect the public.”
At an earlier hearing McAuley, from Jubilee Park in Armagh, entered a guilty plea that for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification, he engaged in a sexual activity when a child “was present or in a place from which he could be observed and he knew or believed that she was aware or intended that she would be aware that he was so engaged.”
Summarising the facts of the case during his sentencing remarks, Judge Ramsey outlined how it was March 30 last year when a mother contacted the police to report an incident.
She told police she had looked on Snapchat the day before when her six-year-old daughter received a message and uncovered messages from an account which were “sexual in nature.”
The court heard there was a message which said “you don’t want to watch me” with a squirting emoji and the sender said that “he has a crush on her”.
The six-year-old “was scared and she asked the account holder to block her” but the person assured her “I won’t send you anything bad.”
“The account holder told her he was going to have a shower and he then started a video call with the child and on accepting the call, there was an image of a male masturbating in direct view of the child,” said the judge.
Police were able to link the calls to McAuley’s Snapchat account and when he was arrested, “the defendant made admissions and said that he was the person who sent the message.”
He told cops “it was just sheer stupidity” on his part and Judge Ramsey said while there was mitigation to be found in the fact that McAuley had a clear record and made early admissions, thereby saving the victim and her mum from having to give evidence, the 40 year age disparity had to be seen as an aggravating factor.
Turning to the pre-sentence report, the judge told the court McAuley has three adult children and having worked in the hospitality trade for years, he started his own business 20 years ago.
It was in 2003 when McAuley started inflatables business ‘Bounce A-Bout,’ hiring out a wide range of inflatables but Judge Ramsey highlighted that business “is now a casualty of his behaviour” and has closed down.
“He told probation that this was the stupidest mistake of his life,” the judge told the court, adding that according to the PSR “his family are planning to stand by him.”
That was a “protective factor” the judge took into consideration when assessing the proper sentence and while he said the custody threshold was “clearly passed,” Judge Ramsey concluded that he was minded to impose an ECO.
In addition to the community service and probation elements, he also ordered McAuley to sign the police sex offenders register for the next five years.
Although the PPS and PSNI had applied for a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, the judge said given the protective features of the sex register and the ECO it was his view that a SOPO was neither necessary nor proportionate.
