THE man at the centre of the X case has been freed in Dublin after serving three years in prison, The Irish Times has learned.
He was released from Arbour Hill Prison at 5 a.m. on May 31st, more than two years after his original 14 year sentence for unlawful carnal knowledge of a 14 year old girl was reduced to four by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
The timing of his release was agreed by the prison authorities to ensure his privacy.
Controversy over the case arose in 1992 when the teenage girl whom he abused - referred to as Miss X - sought the right to travel to Britain to have an abortion.
An application by the Attorney General for an injunction restraining her from leaving Ireland for nine months was granted by Mr Justice Costello in the High Court in February 1992.
However, the injunction against travel was lifted by the Supreme Court, which also ruled in March 1992 that abortion should be permitted in cases where there was a "real and substantial risk to the life of the mother". The decision made the threat of suicide a ground for abortion.
Miss X had a spontaneous miscarriage in an English hospital.
Last month, as Fianna Fail leader, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern undertook to pursue a combination of constitutional and legal legislation to deal with the Supreme Court ruling in the X case.
The married businessman, now aged 48, was first charged with nine counts of sexual assault and unlawful carnal knowledge of a minor in July 1992. Claims he would not get a fair trial because of publicity were rejected by the High Court in December 1993. The Supreme Court rejected this claim the following year.
In May 1994 he pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and one of unlawful carnal knowledge.
The following month he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment on two counts of unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 15 years of age, to run consecutively. He was also sentenced to 12 months imprisonment on a charge of indecent assault, to run concurrently with the other sentences.
However, the Court of Criminal Appeal cut his sentence to four years in March 1995.
A prison source described the man as a model prisoner who had mixed well with other inmates at Arbour Hill.
A source confirmed he was released on May 31st at 5 a.m. "The decision was taken because as far as courts and prisons were concerned his time was done and we had to protect his right to privacy when he came out."