Three Navan men face 22 charges including 10 counts of rape and child cruelty
Three Co Meath men appeared before Trim District Court on Tuesday charged with rape, child cruelty, assault and threats to kill. One man in his 30s faces 10 rape counts alone.
Three Co Meath men charged with rape, child neglect and assault after Navan search
Three men from Co Meath are facing a combined 22 criminal charges — including 10 counts of rape, child cruelty and neglect, assault causing harm, and threats to kill — following a garda investigation that began more than a decade ago, the Irish Times reports.
The men, aged in their 30s, 40s and 50s, were first arrested early last year during a search of a house in Navan, Co Meath. They were released without charge pending further investigation before being detained again on Tuesday morning and brought before Trim District Court for their first appearance.
Gardaí confirmed the charges following their court appearance. Some details of the investigation cannot be disclosed under court rules applying to cases involving sexual offences and children.
Man in his 30s faces 17 charges
The most serious charges fall against the youngest of the three accused. The man in his 30s faces 10 counts of rape, one count of attempted rape, two charges of cruelty or neglect of a child, two charges of assault causing harm, and two charges of making threats to kill or cause serious harm to a named person.
The 10 alleged rapes are said to have taken place at a location in Navan on unknown dates spanning July 2019 to February 2022. The alleged attempted rape is said to have occurred on an unknown date between July 2021 and February 2022.
The two child cruelty or neglect charges relate to periods beginning in July 2012 and July 2013 respectively, both extending to February 2022. It is alleged he "did wilfully assault, ill-treat, neglect, abandon, expose the said child or cause, procure or allow the said child to be assaulted, ill-treated, neglected, abandoned or exposed" in a manner likely to cause suffering or injury.
His two assault charges relate to separate periods: one between July 2021 and February 2022, and another between July 2013 and June 2016. The threats to kill charges also concern Navan, with alleged dates between July 2021 and February 2022 in one instance, and between January 2015 and February 2022 in the other.
Second defendant faces two child neglect charges
The man in his 50s faces two charges of child cruelty and neglect, both alleged to have occurred in Navan. One relates to an unknown date between July 2013 and February 2022; the other to a period beginning in July 2012 and also extending to February 2022.
Third accused charged with reckless endangerment
The man in his 40s faces three charges: one of reckless endangerment of a child and two of child neglect or cruelty. On the endangerment charge, it is alleged he "created a substantial risk to the child of being a victim of serious harm and sexual abuse and failed to take reasonable steps to protect the child." That alleged offence covers a period between July 2013 and February 2022.
The two neglect or cruelty charges against him mirror the statutory language applied to the first defendant, with the alleged offences spanning July 2012 to February 2022 and July 2013 to February 2022 respectively.
All three men were initially identified during an extensive criminal investigation into a serious offence committed more than a decade ago. Evidence gathered in the course of that inquiry formed the basis for the current charges brought by the State.
The cases are before Trim District Court.
Source: Irish Times