More often than not, people are conversant with the idea of resending videos or pictures randomly sent to them on whatsapp.
However, in what appears to be a rare case of conviction based on an ignorant gesture, a 51year old Nigerian woman,Jadesola Agbalade has been jailed for forwading a whatsapp video sent to her.
The mother-of-three forwarded a child p*rn clip which showed a child being r*p*d,and she was arrested and arraigned.
Jadesola Agbalade (51) pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly distributing child p*rn on July 20, 2016.
Agbalade told gardaí she forwarded on the video clip via the messaging platform Whatsapp in a bid to warn a friend about the dangers of leaving her kids alone with her boyfriend, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.
The court heard Agbalade, formerly of Deerhaven Avenue, Clonee, Dublin, is currently living in temporary homeless accommodation.
Garda Enda Ledwith told Karl Finnegan BL, prosecuting, that he arrested a man in Dublin Airport in July 2017 in relation to credit card fraud. That man’s phone was investigated and the child p*rn clip was discovered.
The court heard the clip showed a child between the ages of two and five being raped by a man. Upon further investigation, gardaí discovered it is an international clip that has been in circulation since about 2014.
Gardaí traced the phone number from which the clip was sent back to Agbalade. When they called the number, Agbalade answered and agreed to meet them at Blanchardstown shopping centre.
She handed over her phone to gardaí and admitted to receiving the child p*rn clip and sending it on. As well as the male recipient identified by gardaí, she told gardaí she sent the clip to a female friend who has three young children in a bid to warn her “not to leave her children with her boyfriend”. That lady has never been identified.
Agbalade has no previous convictions.Gada Ledwith agreed with Michael Bowman SC, defending, that Agbalade “didn’t understand the enormity of the situation” when she was interviewed.
She told gardaí, “I didn’t know it wasn’t right. I’m sorry.”
Mr Bowman told the court it was a “remarkably unusual” case. He said there was no suggestion Agbalade profited in any way from distributing the video clip, nor was she involved in the generation of the material.
He said the usual circumstances surrounding child pornography distributors, who are usually found in possession of hundreds or thousands of images, were “completely absent in this case”.
The court heard no further material was found on Agbalade’s two phones which she handed over to gardaí.
Mr Bowman said Agbalade has one teenage child still living with her and two adult sons who are in university. He said she is a single mother, originally from Nigeria, who came to Ireland in 2001. There were “no concerns” regarding Agbalade’s fitness as a mother, he said.
He submitted the stigma of a conviction would be punishment enough for Agbalade.
She will now be a s*x offender and as a mother, that is a significant stigma in the community,” he said. Agbalade “comes to the court absolutely aghast at what she has allowed herself to become involved in,” he added.
Judge Karen O’Connor ordered a probation report and remanded Agbalade on continuing bail.
Ms Agbalade was sentenced on November 9,2017.
