Baz learning his lessons over home schooling
I’ve no doubt he knew what he was doing was wrong
Presenter
BAZ Ashmawy has admitted he felt he was “completely failing” as a parent trying to homeschool his children.
The TV presenter, 45, opened up about teaching his kids during the pandemic and said he found it “very stressful”.
Speaking on RTE’S Claire Byrne Live, the dad of six added: “I just found it, those first few weeks... like I was completely failing as a parent.
“There were other parents, and they were asking for bigger workloads for the children and I was just in awe of that.
“It wasn’t until I went on Instagram and I started ranting about it a bit that a load of teachers and a load of other parents got on board. I said, ‘Look, I’m just not coping with this’.
“So then all of a sudden I had to kind of prioritise what’s most important.
“And that was, regarding the younger ones who are like seven and nine, is their kind of happiness, is their wellbeing.
“And for them not to be carrying anxiety over how many things they haven’t done on their list of work.
“[It] is just keeping them upbeat. Once I kind of focused on that I didn’t feel as bad because if you keep comparing yourself to other parents, you know?
“You’re not a teacher, you can only try your best.”
BY KATIE GALLAGHER
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that during Garda interviews Mark Keogh repeatedly claimed he believed he had an abnormality with his own penis and he wanted to see if anyone else was the same.
When officers raided the 29-year-old’s home they found more than 700 sexually explicit images of children, around 400 of which were images of the 12 victims.
Some of the boys were asked to send photographs of them performing sex acts on themselves, while three were urged to provide an image of themselves interacting with a dog.
Keogh’s barrister Michael Bowman said his client was not confused about his own sexuality but had “a concern about the presentation of his own penis”. He had been booked in for surgery but it did not go ahead.
The court heard Keogh has since been assessed and has been attending therapy for almost three years. He has also been medicated.
Judge Martin Nolan suspended the final three-and-a-half years of a five-year prison term. He said but for the defendant’s underlying problems his sentence would be considerably longer.
He noted Keogh has “severe autism”, psychiatric and psychological problems and needs specialist help for the rest of his life. He said his incarceration would prove very difficult for the prison service but they had a duty of care which they should meet.
Judge Nolan added: “He is very familiar with the internet and he abused this in a very criminal way. He is an intelligent man and I’ve no doubt he knew what he was doing was wrong.”
Keogh, of Balla Road, Castlebar, Co Mayo, pleaded guilty to 14 charges of sexual exploitation of a child on dates between November 2013 and May 2014 and possession of child pornography at his then home in Kerdiff Close, Naas, Co Kildare, on February 9, 2016.
The court heard the Garda investigation started after one of the boys’ parents expressed concerns over the contact his son had with a person on Facebook.
Officers discovered Keogh had set up an account under the fake name Nicole Doyle in July 2013.
He then made friends with 14 boys aged between 13 and 16 and sent them a total of 321 requests for naked pictures. Two of the teenagers declined.
JUDGE MARTIN NOLAN DUBLIN YESTERDAY