West Dublin child sex attack accused defers bail application
Tom Tuite
A 26-year-old man charged with the sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl in west Dublin has deferred applying for bail, and a judge has ordered a "fitness to be tried" report.
The accused, who cannot be identified due to the nature of the charge, faced his second hearing on Wednesday morning when he appeared before Judge Alan Mitchell at Cloverhill District Court.
Judge Mitchell noted there was a “heightened” level of security specifically for this case, and it was expected to continue every time the accused appears in court.
The man is accused of the sexual assault of a female at Garter Lane in Saggart on October 20th, 2025. The girl had been missing from care on that date.
The defendant's case had been listed on Wednesday to make a bail application, and an Arabic interpreter had been booked to assist him during the proceedings.
However, his solicitor informed the judge there would be no application for bail at this stage.
At the outset of the brief hearing, Garda Sergeant Sinead Connolly asked for reporting restrictions under the Children Act in relation to the child. The judge agreed and added that they were also a feature of the restrictions in coverage of all sexual offences in court.
Judge Mitchell said that the defence give gardaí 48 hours' notice if they intend to move a bail application.
The court heard that gardaí have to obtain directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The information was translated to the accused, who responded via the interpreter on several occasions, eventually leading the judge to question if he still intended to put off his bail application because "I'm getting something that he is not happy about". However, the solicitor said his client was speaking about ancillary points.
The judge read out his order to the accused, telling him that he would appear again via video link on November 5th. He also mentioned that due to the security issue, the court would always be cleared, and the accused would not be visible on the video link until this was done.
As a result of a further defence request, he told the man that he was directing that he receive appropriate medical and psychiatric assessments in custody, and appropriate treatment if necessary. He later added that this was for the purpose of obtaining a short report on fitness to be tried.
On Tuesday, it emerged in evidence from Garda Sergeant Connolly that the man replied: "I have nothing to say" after he was charged.
Gardaí have issued an appeal for information in relation to the assault. The case triggered violent scenes in west Dublin on Tuesday night, resulting in six arrests and an ongoing Garda investigation to identify others suspected of being involved in offending at the scene.
