Man charged with rape, sexual assault and sending sexual material to girls

A man (23) has been remanded in custody after he was charged with a series of sexual offences, including the rape of one girl and the sexual assault of another girl in Co Cork.

The man, who can’t be named for legal reasons, was charged with the rape of a girl at an address in Co Cork on an unknown date between August 1st, 2022 and August 30th, 2023.

He was also charged by gardaí with three counts of sexual exploitation of the same girl and two counts of using information technology to facilitate the sexual exploitation of her on dates between August 1st, 2022 and August 20th, 2024. He was further charged with two counts of sending sexually explicit images to a child during the same time frame.

The man was also charged with the sexual assault of a second girl and coercing her to participate in the production of child pornography between March 1st, 2023 and August 30th, 2024

He was also charged with an offence of sending sexually explicit material to a third girl in Co Galway on a date unknown between October 10th and November 1st, 2024.

The girls were all under 18 years of age at the time of the offences.

Det Garda June O’Shea of the Cork City Protective Services Unit gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution in relation to the Cork charges and said the accused made no reply.

Det Garda Sharon Noone of the Galway City Protective Services Unit gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution on the Galway charge and said the accused made no reply.

Sgt John Dineen said the DPP had directed trial by indictment and had consented to the accused going forward to Cork Circuit Criminal Court on a signed plea of guilty.

The accused made no application for bail and Judge David Waters remanded the accused in custody to appear again at Cork District Court on November 12th.