By Eoghan Dalton
A former priest has received a 22-month prison sentence at a Waterford court for possessing child pornography.
75-year-old Oliver O’Grady had been found guilty in the Circuit court a fortnight ago.
He was charged with one count of possessing a video of an underage girl engaging in a sexual act.
The offence carries a maximum sentence of five years, and the court heard that he had the video on a date between 14th December 2015 and March 2016, at his residence at St Otteran’s Place, South Parade, Waterford city.
The case arose when a former housemate of O’Grady reported him to Gardaí, after discovering a sexually explicit video on the computer, and O’Grady was found guilty by unanimous verdict two weeks ago.
This afternoon Judge Eugene O’Kelly heard Oliver O’Grady has 8 previous convictions, including the repeated molestation of two brothers in California, for which he served 7 years in the 1990s.
As part of its plea, the defence pointed out O’Grady previously received just 3 years in 2012, for possessing approximately over a quarter-million images and 1,000 videos of child pornography.
But the prosecution cited that the video at the centre of the case was of the higher level of child pornography, and the Judge said it amounted to the exploitation of an innocent child.
Oliver O’Grady received a 22-month sentence, backdated to when he was first arrested and placed in custody last October.
