World worst child porn suspect in custody
Sarah Stack
AAP
September 14, 2013 3:36PM
A MAN described by the FBI as being the largest facilitator of child porn on the planet has been remanded in custody after being refused bail for a second time.
Eric Eoin Marques is wanted in the United States on four charges linked to website images described as being extremely violent, graphic and depicting the rape and torture of pre-pubescent children.
Justice John Edwards, sitting at the High Court in Dublin where extradition proceedings are under way, accepted evidence from the FBI and Irish police that the 28-year-old is a flight risk or likely to destroy evidence if released.
Marques, who has Irish and US citizenship, is wanted in connection with four counts involving the advertising of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, conspiracy to advertise child pornography, and conspiracy to distribute child pornography.
If convicted in the US on all four counts he could be jailed for up to 100 years.
The judge said that despite taking into account that Marques was entitled to the presumption of innocence, was an Irish citizen with a family network around him and was not a fugitive on the run from another country, he could not grant bail even with stringent conditions.
Marques, of Dublin's north inner city, is accused of being the sole administrator of an anonymous hosting server called Freedom Hosting, where the FBI claims thousands of members allegedly posted millions of images of child pornography.
Mr Justice Edwards said the charges were very serious and carried substantial sentences.
He said Marques had already attempted to interfere with evidence when gardai went to arrest him by "making a dive" for his computer to try to turn it off.
Investigators also claimed that after he was initially questioned by gardai, Marques managed to get back on the Freedom Hosting server - which had been taken over by the FBI - and change the passwords.
Elsewhere, the judge raised concerns over the creation of a false identity online and a scan of a US passport that had been found.
He said the factors against bail outweighed the factors for bail.
Dressed in a grey hoodie and jeans, Marques listened intently as the judge delivered his 50-minute ruling a day after he heard the bail application brought by defence barrister Remy Farrell.
The judge said there had been no major change in the circumstances of his case since another judge refused bail on similar grounds the day after his arrest on August 1.
Marques was remanded in custody until October 22 when the case will be mentioned again, and nodded to family members in the court as he was led away.
FBI special agent Brooke Donahue was on Thursday asked by Patrick McGrath, barrister for the Attorney General of Ireland, if the bureau still believed Marques was the largest facilitator of child porn on the planet.
"Yes, that is still true today," the agent told the court.
