Man charged with rape of nine-year-old


A man has been charged with raping a young girl at a school in the midlands in the 1990s.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested at his home and brought to a midland garda station on Sunday evening.
He appeared before a sitting of Tullamore District Court this morning (Monday) charged with two counts of raping a nine-year-old girl at a midland school between September 1, 1997 and June 30, 1998.
Sgt Anthony Quinn said the man, who is in his mid 50s, made no reply to one of the charges and answered: “no, I am talking to my solicitor in a minute,” in relation to the second charge.
Inspector Keyes asked that the defendant be remanded on bail with conditions to reappear at the district court on July 23 for service of the Book of Evidence.
Judge John Coughlan set bail at €1,000 under strict conditions. The defendant was ordered to reside at an address given, sign on three times a week at a garda station, have no contact with children and surrender his passport and driving licence.
He was also asked to provide gardai with a phone number where he could be reached and not to have any contact with the alleged injured party, either directly or indirectly.
When his solicitor objected to his client’s driving licence being surrendered, Judge Coughlan insisted it could be used as a travel document and had to be forfeited. He remanded the defendant on bail to reappear before the court on July 23.