A solicitor has hit out at delays in readying a book of evidence for a man charged with an alleged rape in Donegal.
The man, who is aged in his 40s and cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Letterkenny District Court via video link from Castlerea Prison.
The man is charged that on a date in 2019 at a named location in the Letterkenny area he did rape the woman.
The charge is contraty to Section 48 of the Offences Against The Person Act, 1861 and Section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) Act, 1981 as amended by Section 21 of the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act, 1990.
The man also faces a charge of being in possession of a controlled drug, cocaine, on a different date in 2019.
Sergeant Gerard Dalton told Judge Éiteáin Cunningham that the book of evidence was not yet ready.
Solicitor Mr Frank Dorrian said his client was extradited on a European Arrest Warrant for matters that are alleged to have occurred five years ago.
“I wonder how all of that happened in circumstances where the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) does not have a book of evidence ready,” Mr Dorrian said. “It is a most unusual set of circumstances and it is unreasonable in the extreme.
“Now, we discover that the State is not ready or close to ready.”
Sergeant Dalton said that there was a likelihood of further charges and the book of evidence would be ready within a short period thereafter.
“Any additional charge would be on the same set of facts,” Mr Dorrian said. “The composition of the book of evidence is as it will be regardless.”
Judge Cunningham said she was not making any remark at this juncture, but remanded the accused to Letterkenny District Court on September 16.