SIX WOMEN AND five men have been remanded on bail to appear before the Central Criminal Court for trial, on charges of over 200 counts of the rape, sexual assault, and neglect of children.
The eleven accused persons, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were brought before a court today, which cannot be identified, and each were served with a completed Book of Evidence and returned for trial.
The 220 offences in total are alleged to have occurred on dates between 2014 and 2016.
The charges before the court are:
Each evidence book is three volumes and approximately 3,000 pages in length.
Today, a Detective Sergeant attached to a regional Garda Protective Services unit gave evidence of serving each of the eleven accused today with a copy of the state’s Book of Evidence against them.
A Garda Inspector made an application before the court to have each of the eleven accused returned for trial.
The inspector said the Director of Public Prosecutions had “consented” to each of the accused be sent for trial to the “current sittings” of the Central Criminal Court.
The judge advised each accused that they had fourteen days from the date of the hearing to inform the state of any persons they may seek to call upon to act as an alibi witness at their trial.
Each of the eleven accused stood up in the body of the court when their name was called but they did not speak during the proceedings.
The judge said there were strict reporting restrictions in place to prevent identification of the alleged victims.
The location of the court and the locations of the alleged offences cannot be identified, and the identity of the judge who presided over the hearing cannot be identified.
“I want to make sure the children are not identified,” the judge added.
Each accused was granted free legal aid and the court granted eleven separate applications on behalf of each of the accused that they each be provided with a solicitor and two legal counsel to represent them at trial.
The eleven accused were arrested by gardai following a two-year long investigation led by specially trained gardai, attached to the Garda National Protective Services Bureau.
Each of the accused was remanded on bail to the current sessions of the Central Criminal Court.
Their bail conditions state each accused must not to contact the alleged victims either directly or indirectly, or via social media; they must surrender their passports and not apply for new travel documents; they must sign on weekly at different garda stations; they must notify gardai of any change in their address; and they must be available to gardai at all times via a charged and credited mobile telephone number.
The offences
A woman, aged in her 30s, is charged with 10 counts of neglect/cruelty; 13 counts of sexual exploitation; and 17 counts of sexual assault.
She made no reply when charged by gardai.
A man, aged in his 50s, is charged with 10 counts of neglect/cruelty; 14 counts of sexual exploitation; 11 counts of rape; and, 12 counts of sexual assault.
In response to one charge, the man allegedly told gardai: “Not true that one”.
In response to another charge, he allegedly told gardai: “I hadn’t much dealings with (named person). She was always up at (named persons) house.”
A woman in her 30s is charged with eight counts of sexual assault; and one count of sexual exploitation.
She did not reply to the charges, gardai said.
A man in his 20s is charged with five counts of rape; 16 counts of sexual assault; and 18 counts of sexual exploitation.
He did not reply to the charges., gardai said.
A man in his 40s, is charged with 10 counts of rape; 12 counts of sexual assault; and, seven counts of sexual exploitation.
The man allegedly told gardai, in response to some of the charges, “It didn’t happen.”
A woman in her 30s is charged with 14 counts of sexual assault; 14 counts of sexual exploitation.
A woman in her 50s is charged with eight counts of sexual assault and four counts of sexual exploitation.
She did not reply to the charges, gardai said.
A man, aged in his 70s, is charged with five counts of sexual assault, and, four counts of sexual exploitation.
He did not reply to any of the charges, gardai said.
A man, aged in his 30s, is charged with two counts of sexual assault.
He also made “no reply” to the charges, gardai said.
A fifth female, aged in her 30s, who is accused of two counts of sexual assault, as well as two counts of sexual exploitation, replied “no comment” to each charge, gardai told the court.
A sixth female accused, aged in her 30s, charged with one count of sexual exploitation, did not reply to the charge.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say