A man has been arrested at Dublin Airport after it was reported that he was allegedly trying to flee the country to avoid rape charges, he has been remanded in custody after appearing before court in Limerick this afternoon.
Gardaí told a judge in an earlier court hearing, they believed the man, a Ivory Coast national, was attempting to board a flight from Dublin Airport to Morocco last June to avoid the then-pending rape charges.
The man who is 26, cannot be named for legal reasons, was previously refused bail after he was charged with two counts of rape of a woman at an apartment in Limerick city centre last year.
The offences are understood to have happened over a period of several hours at the man’s home on the 8th of July last year.
Judge Eugene O’Kelly was told during a bail hearing on June 23rd that directions were received from the Director of Public Prosecutions but that gardaí had been unable to locate the offender.
Detective Garda Ivan Muldoon told the court that he called to the home of the defendant on several occasions and repeatedly told acquaintances of the man that gardaí were looking to locate him.
When the defendant presented at the airport boarding gate, it was discovered the flight tickets had been bought with what was described as “compromised United States credit card,” which could not be explained by the defendant, Det Garda Muldoon said.