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A former RTÉ producer has appeared in a Dublin court on charges of child abuse.
Kieran Creaven, residing on Adelaide Street in Dún Laoghaire, has been taken into custody with bail consent to appear again in Clover Hill District Court for the delivery of the evidence book next week.
Detectives from the Gardaí online child exploitation unit brought the 57-year-old to Dublin District Court today after he was arrested in Dún Laoghaire at 8.15am.
He faces seventeen counts of child abuse; two counts of sexual assault and three counts of sexual exploitation of a child outside the jurisdiction.
He also faces three counts of child sexual exploitation and five of possession of child pornography within the state.
Mr. Creaven also faces four charges for using information technology to facilitate the sexual exploitation of a child. The crimes are alleged to have occurred in 2014 and 2017.
When the accusation was presented to him in court, he replied “no response until I have spoken to my lawyer.”
Garda Detective Johanna Doyle told the court that Gardaí opposed bail due to the seriousness of the charges and the possibility that Creaven would not appear in court.
He said Gardaí searched his home in November 2017 and found a large number of electronic and media devices.
These were forensically examined, he said, and several central images and videos of the charges were discovered.
The detective told the court that there was evidence that Kieran Creaven had been on Skype, exploiting children and making payments and had been sexually exploiting several girls in Ireland and sending them phone credit.
Detective Garda Doyle said he had also identified her speaking voice and extremely graphic images.
He said that he had traveled extensively to the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.
Defense attorney Michael Staines said his office had been in contact with gardaí and Mr. Creaven had agreed to meet with them by appointment.
Mr. Staines asked why he was arrested. Detective Garda Doyle said she told him an operational decision was made.
Mr. Staines also pointed out that he was not released on bail for anything and that he had a perfect right to travel to other countries and that there was no impediment to travel.
He accepted that these were extremely serious charges, but there was no evidence that Mr. Creaven did not appear. He said that he was more than willing to meet Gardaí and that he had cooperated and committed to the process at all times.
The court also heard that the Director of the Public Ministry has directed the trial by indictment, which means that it will be dealt with in the Superior Criminal Circuit Court.
Judge Bryan Smith said these were very serious charges, but he was willing to grant Kieran Creaven bail on a number of conditions, including that he surrender his passport, signed daily at Dún Station. Laoghaire Garda, stay away from social networks in particular, Facebook and Skype, and provide a separate bond of € 10,000.
His defense attorney said that considering the nature of the charges, Mr. Creaven had very little support or friends, but the judge said that due to the seriousness of the charges he could not reduce the amount of the bail any further.
The former RTÉ sports producer was taken into custody with the consent of the bail to appear in Clover Hill District Court next week for the delivery of the evidence book.
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