Two sex offenders skip bail

Mr Justice Paul Carney has asked the media for their help in trying to locate two sex offenders who have absconded Central Criminal Court bail.

Mr Justice Carney said that the photographs of Edward McDonnell (aged 40) of Brookview Lawns, Tallaght and Michael Christian Moran (aged 27) of Woodgrove, Tullow Road, Carlow, should be published in the papers to assist gardaí in capturing these fugitives.

He said with the media’s assistance in bringing the details of the two men to the public’s attention, any citizen who may know of these criminals whereabouts, could then bring this information to the gardaí or the courts.

Mr Justice Carney said that the most wanted man in the Central Criminal Court was found in Spain because of the assistance of a very observant person and the wide publication of his photograph in the national papers.

McDonnell was convicted by a jury in October 2004 of sexually assaulting a woman who accepted a motorcycle lift from him outside a pub in Terenure. He was jailed for 18 months but was given credit for time he had already spent in prison.

McDonnell is wanted before the courts on other charges and has failed to appear. A bench warrant has been issued for his arrest but gardai have been unable to find him.

Moran pleaded guilty on July 24, 2001, to raping a 27-year-old woman in a residential area of a Carlow town while she was walking home from a hen-party. His sentence was adjourned to October 12, 2001 but a bench warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to appear.