A 23-year old Co Clare man charged with the rape, assault causing harm, false imprisonment, coercive control and threatening to kill or cause serious harm to a female who was aged under 18 at the time has been returned for trial.
At Ennis District Court, Judge Adrian Harris returned the man for trial to the next sittings of the Central Criminal Court after a Book of Evidence was served in the case.
In the case, the man is charged with 20 alleged offences against the female on dates from January 1st 2020 to May 2021 at different addresses in Ennis.
The man – who aged between 17 and 19 at the time of the alleged offences – is facing four counts of rape against the female on various dates at an Ennis address between January 1st 2020 and April 30th 2021.
The man first appeared in court in relation to the charges earlier month and there was no Garda objection to conditional bail for the accused and the man’s wife has provided an independent €1,000 surety as part of his bail conditions.
Judge Harris extended the legal aid certificate to solicitor Tara Godfrey for a senior and junior counsel to also represent the accused in the Central Criminal Court.
Ms Godfrey asked for the signing on conditions to be relaxed but Sgt John Burke objected stating that “these are serious charges”.
The other charges the man is facing also include one ‘Coco’s Law’ prosecution concerning the distribution of intimate images without a person’s consent.
In that charge, the man is accused of on dates between May 1st 2021 and June 30th 2021 did distribute or publish an intimate image of the female without her consent and with intent to cause harm to her contrary to Section 2(1) and (3) of the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020.
The man is also charged with on May 12th 2021 having in his possession child pornography that were videos of the girl engaging in sexual acts with a male, contrary to Section 6 (1) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998.
The man is also facing a coercive control charge under Domestic Violence legislation where he is charged with between October 1st 2019 and May 5th 2021 at an Ennis address of persistently engaging in behaviour that was controlling or coercive and which had a serious effect on the female who was in an intimate relationship with the accused, contrary to Section 39 (1) and (3) of the Domestic Violence Act 2018.
The man is also charged with the false imprisonment of the female at an Ennis address between April 30th 2021 and May 1st 2021 contrary to Section 15 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act
The man is also facing 11 counts of assault causing harm at different Ennis addresses across various dates from January 1st 2020 and May 1st 2021. One of the alleged assaults took place in a shower at an residential address in Ennis.
The man is also charged with between April 30th 2021 and May 5th 2021 of threatening to kill or cause serious harm to the female contrary to Section 5 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
In evidence previously, prosecuting Garda, Det Garda Niamh O’Malley of the Clare Division Protective Services Unit (PSU) said that the accused made no reply after charge and caution.
