Six face trial for sex attacks

Six men are to be returned for trial to Donegal town Circuit Court next month on charges of sex assaults on an under-age girl…

Six men are to be returned for trial to Donegal town Circuit Court next month on charges of sex assaults on an under-age girl.

They face 22 charges between them which are alleged to have occurred between July 1st and November 30th, 2003.

Each of the men was in Donegal Town District Court yesterday having been served with books of evidence last month in courts in Ballyshannon and Donegal town.

The alleged victim in this case is still a minor.

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Judge Desmond Zaidan repeated earlier reporting restrictions on the case barring publication of the identification of the defendants or any detail which might identify the alleged victim.

He set bail of €1,000 for each of the men on their own bond and granted them legal aid for a solicitor and a junior counsel in the Circuit Court.

He said he would not close the door on each of the men having a senior counsel, but he chose to leave that decision with a trial judge.

State solicitor Ciarán Liddy did not object to bail, but requested that each of the six men make no direct or indirect contact with the alleged injured party or any State witness.

One of the men, who faces unrelated charges on suspected drink- driving, was also ordered to sign on three times weekly at Donegal town Garda station and to stay at his mother's address as a condition of bail. The six defendants are due before the next sitting of the Circuit Court at the end of May.