The High Court has refused to grant bail to a 25-year-old man who is accused of raping and assaulting his ex-girlfriend in Scotland.
The Scottish authorities are seeking to have the man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, extradited where he will be prosecuted for offences that occurred at an apartment in Glasgow on August 4th last.
It is alleged that the man, an Indian national who had been living illegally in Scotland for several years after his student visa expired, assaulted the woman whom he had previously been seeing, some weeks after they broke up.
It is alleged he repeatedly hit her head, pulled her hair, forcibly removed her clothes, pinned her to a couch and raped her.
He left Scotland shortly after the alleged incident and came to this jurisdiction via Belfast, and has been working as a delivery driver in the Midlands.
The man was arrested by gardaí on foot of an extradition warrant in Co Meath before Christmas and has been detained in prison since. He claims to have known nothing about the rape allegations until he was arrested.
He also claims he left Scotland because of difficulties with his ex-girlfriend’s family. He claims he was threatened with a machete by his ex-girlfriend’s brother, and that her family were trying to get money off him for her to play bingo.
Engaged
The man, who claims that he is engaged to an Irish mother of two he met on the internet after he arrived in Ireland, applied to the High Court in Dublin to be released on bail pending the outcome of his extradition hearing, which is scheduled for next month. The State objected to bail on grounds that the man represented a flight risk.
Mr Justice Garrett Simons on Friday dismissed the man's application for bail on several grounds, including that the evidence he gave was inconsistent and hard to follow. He said the man had played "fast and loose" with Irish and Scottish immigration laws. He had not registered with the GNIB since entering the state, the Judge also noted.
Another issue of concern was the man’s account of where his passport is. He initially told gardaí he did not have one but then told the court that it was now lost, the judge said.
The judge, who had heard evidence from both the man and his fiance, said their account about the engagement was “incredible”. The judge, who noted that the engagement had not been formally registered with the relevant State authorities, remarked that neither the man nor his fiance could tell the court the exact date they had got engaged, only that it had happened a few weeks after they met online.
The judge also said the couple, who are residing together at her home, have made no plans about when they will marry. The evidence from both in regards the alleged engagement “defied all logic and belief”, the judge added.
In the circumstances, the judge said the court had no option other than refuse to grant the man bail. The matter will return before the court in the New Year.