Husband and wife charged with sexually abusing children

A husband and wife have appeared in court in Co Donegal charged with the alleged sexual abuse of their children.

The couple were detained at their home over the weekend.

They were before Letterkenny District Court where details of their arrests were given by gardaí.

Garda Conor Mulkearns told the court that after they were arrested charges were put to them at the Garda station. He said woman made no reply to all charges but the man replied to the last charge, “I’ll let you work that one out for yourself. Not guilty”.

The charges include sexual exploitation, sexual assault, neglect and ill-treatment between January 1st, 2015 and May 25th, 2016.

Gardaí said they had no objections to bail for the couple, who cannot be named, but wanted a number of conditions.

They include that they sign on at a Garda station once a week, surrender their passports and not to interfere with any witnesses in the case.

Barrister for the couple Patricia McCallum, said her clients would comply.

However, she said agreement had been reached that the couple could send Christmas cards to their children.

Garda Sergeant Jim Collins said the Director of Public Prosecutions had agreed for the case to go forward to the Circuit Court.

He asked the court to allow two months for the preparation of a book of evidence in the cases.

Judge Paul Kelly adjourned the case until February 11th and released the couple on their own bail bonds of €250 under the conditions requested by Gardai.