Teen accused of stepmum rape in Kildare appears in court
Naas Courthouse
A TEENAGER who allegedly double raped his stepmother in their home just two weeks after he arrived in the country to improve his English was remanded back into custody for another fortnight to allow for time for “for formal pleas to be entered”.
“This man will be 18 on [before the end of the year] so we would hope this matter would be dealt with by then,” said his solicitor David Powderley in Naas District Court last week.
It is alleged that the youth committed the offences at the address in north Kildare on the night of 2 September, and was arrested shortly after midnight after neighbours in the apartment complex notified the authorities. He has been in custody in Oberstown Young Offenders facility since then.
He was initially charged in Leixlip Garda Station, and made no reply to the formal charge on two counts contrary to section 2 of the .
At his client’s first appearance on 4 September, Mr Powderley told the court that “the parents are estranged because of this case”, but gave no further detail on this point.
He confirmed an Appropriate Adult – peace commissioner Ciaran Baker – attended Leixlip Garda Station (in the place of parents) and that “the adoptive mother is the alleged injured party”.
Mr Powderley also confirmed the availability in Oberstown and expressed his client’s wish to stay in custody.
Judge Desmond Zaidan asked arresting officer Garda Mark Fallon for a brief outline of the facts.
“The injured party was put on her knees on the ground; she was digitally penetrated in the vagina, and he penetrated her anus with his penis,” he said.
Mr Powderley then informed the court that out of the number of 999 calls, his client was one of those, and this was accepted by the state. He added his young client had a previous history of psychiatric episodes and asked the court for an “assessment on his fitness to plea, and his fitness to stand trial”.
“Do you want me to recommend an assessment or order it?” asked the judge.
“Order it,” said Mr Powderley, to which Judge Zaidan acceded.
The judge then warned Mr Powderley that this period of detention could well be extended as “in my experience, a psychiatric or psychological report can take up to 21 days”.
This week he extended it again until 6 November and said: “He is to be produced [in person in court] on that date.”
He then referred to the defendant’s translator, and the importance of her job – particularly in a case this sensitive – comparing it to another ongoing trial of similar sensitivity.
“I see the importance of translators, because there could easily be a mistrial over mistakes made in translation – like in the FGM [female genital mutilation] trial in Dublin,” he said.
