Judge slams delay after man pleads guilty to child rape

A judge has criticised the State’s delay in dealing with the case of a man who has admitted rape crimes against children.

Judge Geoffrey Browne yesterday described as “a total waste of state resources” the apparent insistence on the preparation of a book of evidence in the case after the accused man had indicated he was waiving his right to the book and was pleading guilty to all charges.

Harristown District Court heard last month that the Director of Public Prosecutions had agreed to accept signed pleas of guilty in the case.

The 30-year-old accused man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faces a total of five charges of raping two little girls in Athlone last September.

He is charged with raping one of the girls three times and raping the second child twice. The victims are aged 6 and 9.

The girls had been attending a birthday party in the area on Sept 28 and the alarm was raised when it was discovered they were missing. It later emerged that they had been raped at a nearby house.

The accused man has been on remand at Castlerea Prison since early October. At the request of his solicitor, Gearóid Geraghty, he has been on suicide watch at the prison.

Harristown District Court was told in November and December he had waived his right to the book of evidence and indicated he would be pleading guilty to the charges when the case comes before the Central Criminal Court.

Last month Mr Geraghty told the court the DPP was accepting signed pleas in respect of the charges before the court.

But when the case was called at Harristown Court yesterday Inspector Padraig Jones applied to have the accused man remanded in continuing custody to next month for preparation of the book of evidence.

Mr Geraghty told Judge Geoffrey Browne that he was at a loss to understand where the instructions were coming from in the case.

On Dec 13 Mr Geraghty advised the court the DPP had agreed to accept the guilty pleas. He said he was objecting to the State’s application and added “my client can do no more”.

Inspector Jones said he was not in possession of all of the facts and asked Judge Browne to adjourn the case for a week to allow the State solicitor for Westmeath come to court to deal with the matter.

Judge Browne said: “One week — that’s it. It’s crazy, a total waste of state resources.”