A 42-year-old man charged last week (July 29 ) in Athlone with the attempted false imprisonment of a child, was remanded in custody for a further fortnight at Cloverhill District Court this week (August 3 ) to facilitate continued psychiatric evaluation.
The unemployed man who lives on disability benefit in the Athlone area, was arrested in Tramore, Co Waterford in the early hours of July 28 in relation to the attempted abduction of a 13-year-old girl on the evening of July 19 in the townland of Moyclare, near Ferbane, while she was riding her bike to a friend’s house.
He was taken to Birr Garda Station that morning, where he made no reply to the charge, and was escorted into the court in Athlone last Friday just before 5pm with a minimum of fuss by detectives from that station.
He sat quietly and vacantly, with a minimum of supervision in the empty court, while Detective Sergeant Kieron Handley read the formalities of charge to Judge Seamus Hughes.
With the defendant not opposing a remand in custody, his solicitor, Mr Patrick Martin, sought a psychiatric assessment for his client, and a gagging order for the press. Judge Hughes granted this “until further order”, but tacitly accepted that some other organs of the press - not present in court - had already named the defendant.
“Whether I have the power to prevent the total publication of the defendant’s name I’m not sure, but the media in Ireland has, in the main, acted responsibly in this manner,” he said, before remanding him in custody in Cloverhill Prison until Wednesday, August 3, when he was given a further remand in custody until August 17.
