Arrest warrant issued after alleged child rapist fails to appear in court

By Donal McMahon

An arrest warrant has been made for an at large Bulgarian man charged with child rape in Armagh.

The 32-year-old, with an address in Newtownhamilton and who cannot be named for legal reasons, failed to appear at Newry magistrates on Wednesday.

The Newry factory worker had been bailed last year on November 5.

The male is charged with penetration of a child’s anus and sexual touching of the same under 13-year-old on May 16, 2019.

The accused is also charged with failing to surrender to police bail on November 5, 2019, being almost three months at large.

The foreign national has been in Northern Ireland for over two years.

Defence barrister, Kevin Magill explained to the court that he could not locate his client.

Previous conditions of bail were made for the defendant to have no contact with the alleged injured party, stay at an agreed address, present himself at the door to police, surrender his passport, have no unsupervised contact with a child and to stay in the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland.

A previous magistrate had outlined the risk of flight by demanding to have the “defendant in court on a weekly basis”.

District judge Eamonn King adjourned the case with an arrest warrant made to bring the accused back into the jurisdiction where he could face a custody remand until his case is heard.