Man charged with rape of Spanish student in Dublin

A man has appeared in court charged with raping, falsely imprisoning and threatening to kill an 18-year-old Spanish student in Dublin at the weekend.

Wearing white trainers, cream three-quarter-length combat trousers and a red T-shirt with collar, the 24-year-old accused remained seated throughout the brief hearing and did not speak.

He is accused of falsely imprisoning, raping and threatening to kill the student over last Saturday and Sunday.

The alleged offences are said to have taken place on the site of the old Irish glass bottle factory off Pigeon House Road, Ringsend.

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The student, who is staying in Ireland with a host family and has been in Dublin for a short time, met the accused on the boardwalk area of Dublin on Saturday.

It is alleged they both went to a piece of waste ground off Pigeon House Road, Ringsend, south Dublin, and that the accused raped the woman in a tent he was living in between last Saturday and into Sunday.

No reply

Det Bryan Hunt of Irishtown Garda station told the court the accused was arrested within the Criminal Courts of Justice building in Dublin at 12.35pm.

He made no reply when the charges were put to him, the court was told.

Det Hunt said the DPP directed that the three charges should be tried on indictment.

The accused has been remanded in custody to appear before Cloverhill District Court on Friday, July 28th.

His solicitor, Tony Collier, asked Judge Michael Walsh at Dublin District Court that a psychiatric assessment of the accused man be carried out and a report on his psychiatric condition be drawn up.

He told Judge Walsh he had seen medical reports for the man. There were "concerns about his mental wellbeing at this time", the court was told.

The man made no bail application. “In light of the application to revoke other bail bonds, there is no application for bail,” Mr Collier told the judge.

Mr Collier added his client was on social welfare and was in receipt of disability benefit and an application for legal aid was made to the court and granted.

In reply to the request for a psychiatric assessment, the judge directed that the governor of Cloverhill Prison and his medical advisers provide the appropriate medical care for the accused while he was on remand in prison.