Three Co Clare men face sexual offence charges against two girls

Three young Co Clare men appeared in court on Wednesday in connection with 10 alleged sexual offences against two teenage girls.

At Ennis District Court, two of the accused, one aged 19 years and the other aged 20 years, were charged with the rape of a 17-year-old-girl on December 27th, 2016 at a house in Ennis.

The 19-year-old is also charged with the sexual assault of the 17-year-old - then aged 16 — on the same date at the same location.

The second alleged female victim in the case, aged 17 years, was under the age of 17 at the time of the alleged offences.

The 20-year-old is also facing five separate charges of having sex with a girl under the age of 17, contrary to Section 3 of the Criminal Law Rape Amendment Act.

Those five offences are alleged to have occurred on December 27th, 2016 at an Ennis address and on July 30th, July 31st and August 1st, 2016 at addresses in Co Westmeath.

A third male, also aged 20, is charged with having sex with a girl under the age of 17 at an address in north Clare on December 27th, 2016.

He is also charged with having sex with a girl under the age of 17 at an address in Co Westmeath, on July 30th, 2016.

In total, one of the 20-year-olds is facing six charges, and the second 20-year-old and the 19-year-old are facing two charges each.

The court was told that all three made no reply when charged and cautioned with the offences.

Judge Patrick Durcan remanded two of the men in custody with consent to bail to July 11th and the third man in custody to this Friday to clarify an issue around his passport.

One of the men and his mother embraced before he was led away by gardaí out of court.

Insp Tom Kennedy told the court the men are a flight risk and requested that their passports be surrendered to gardaí.

In respect of the two 20-year-olds, they recently applied for a visa to study overseas and their passports are with an overseas embassy in Dublin.

The judge ordered that all three surrender their passports as part of their bail conditions.

The other bail conditions specify that the three have no contact with the alleged injured parties and that they sign on twice a week at their local Garda station.