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A former RTÉ producer has appeared in a Dublin court on charges of child abuse.
Kieran Creaven, based on Adelaide Street in Dún Laoghaire, has been placed in pre-trial detention with bail consent to appear again in Cloverhill District Court for the delivery of the evidence book next week.
Detectives from the garda’s 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 17 counts of child abuse, including two counts of sexual assault and three counts of sexual exploitation of a child outside the jurisdiction.
He also faces three charges for child sexual exploitation and five for 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 court was charged, he replied: “There is no answer until I have spoken with my lawyer.”
Garda Detective Johanna Doyle told the court that the Gardaí were opposed to bail because of 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 examined by a coroner, he said, and several images and videos critical to the charges were discovered.
The detective told the court that there was evidence that Mr. 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 they had also identified his speaking voice and extremely graphic images.
He said that he had traveled extensively to the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.
Defense attorney Luke Staines said his office had been in contact with the 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 Mr. Creaven bail under a number of conditions, including surrendering his passport, checking in daily at Dún Laoghaire station. Garda, stay away from social networks in particular, Facebook and Skype and provide a separate deposit 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 placed in pretrial detention with the consent of bail to appear in Cloverhill District Court next week for the delivery of the evidence book.
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