THE CONCEPT of bail is based on a presumption of innocence, a judge said yesterday when he remanded a mildly mentally retarded Cork youth in custody to await sentence for raping a girl.
The 17-year-old youth pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping his eight-year-old neighbour and to sexually assaulting her in October 1993. He had been on bail before his guilty pleas.
Mr Justice Morris requested reports of both the victim and the rapist and remanded him in custody for sentence on December 17th.
Applying for continuing bail, Mr Barry White SC (with Mr Sean Lynch) said his client was 14 at the time of the offences and was living in England with his sister where he was getting treatment. The local gardai thought the victim's family had been relieved by notification of the guilty pleas.
The defendant's sister told Mr Justice Morris her brother was "surrounded by a wall of silence" which was only now beginning to be broken down. He had attended a special needs school in Cork.
Experts in England said he would need six months of one-to-one tuition to bring his reading, writing and numeracy skills up to a basic level.
Mr Tom O'Connell, prosecuting, said he had only heard minutes before the case that the defendant was living in England. Following a consultation with the Director of Public Prosecutions, he was instructed not to consent to bail.
Mr Justice Morris refused the bail application, saying: "I will not be a party to letting the defendant gratuitously leave the jurisdiction". He said the concept of bail was based on the presumption of innocence but in this case the defendant had pleaded guilty.
He wanted to make it clear the defendant's sister was a thoroughly decent person and he was not criticising her or suggesting she would retreat from her undertaking. But if the defendant decided to abscond she might not be able to stop him, Mr Justice Morris said.