Donegal man faces 67 child sex charges across two courts
A DONEGAL man in his fifties is to face a total of 67 sexual offence charges involving four alleged child victims across two courts.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons and to protect the identity of the alleged victims, appeared before Letterkenny District Court on Monday where proceedings were progressed on two separate tranches of charges.
The most serious 49 charges – including 13 counts of male rape, 22 counts of male sexual assault, 12 counts of production of child pornography, one count of allowing a child in his care to be used for producing pornography, and one count of distributing sexually explicit material to a child, are to be sent forward to the Central Criminal Court. The book of evidence on these charges has yet to be served.
Garda Gillian Page told the court she had served a book of evidence on a further 18 charges to the defendants solicitor, Donough Cleary.
Those 18 charges encompass sexual exploitation, sexual assault, grooming a child into sexual touching, and corrupting and depraving a child for sexual gratification.
Garda Sergeant Oliver Devaney confirmed that the Director of Public Prosecutions had consented to the 18 matters proceeding to Letterkenny Circuit Court at the July 21 sitting.
Judge Daly read the alibi warning to the defendant and directed that Garda interview recordings be furnished to his solicitor. Mr Cleary applied for two counsels and legal aid on behalf of his client.
The man was remanded on existing bail terms.