A 54-YEAR-OLD Athlone man has been remanded in custody after he appeared before the town’s district court in relation to an alleged assault this week on an elderly woman in a local nursing home.

Peter Keaney, of 7 Hillside Close, Monksland, was charged with assaulting the woman, who is in her 80s, causing her harm, at Sonas Nursing Home on Athlone’s Ballymahon Road on 29 April.

During a brief hearing of the case this morning, Sergeant Paul McNally of Athlone Garda Station handed in evidence of the defendant’s arrest, charge and caution.

Keaney’s solicitor, Mark Cooney, said no application for bail was being made today, and that his client would be reserving his position in that regard.

Sergeant Paul McNally said the State would be opposing an application for bail, if one was to be made, and he asked for the defence to give 48 hours’ notice if it intended to apply for bail in the future.

Sergeant McNally said the State was looking for a one-week adjournment in the case, to await instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), though he added that he didn’t expect the directions to be ready in a week’s time.

Cooney made an application that his client would be referred for a psychiatric assessment and report while in custody, and this was approved by Judge Bernadette Owens.

The solicitor also applied for free legal aid, saying his client had been on a community employment scheme.

Judge Owens approved the legal aid application, and then remanded Keaney in custody.

He is due to appear again at Athlone District Court on Wednesday next, 8 May.