A woman was followed, dragged into a park, “strangled”, and told she would be killed during an early morning sex attack in the Docklands in Dublin, a court has heard.
Marius Lacatus (32), was charged with sexual assault and assault causing harm to the woman, who was walking to work shortly after 6am on Monday.
The father of one, who has no fixed address, was granted bail over Garda objections when he appeared before Judge John Brennan at Dublin District Court on Tuesday.
Garda Shane Dineen told the court the accused “made no reply” when charged. The Store Street garda objected to bail due to the strength of evidence, flight risk and the seriousness of the case. The court heard the defendant was a Romanian construction worker living in Dublin for the past three years,
Hyundai’s new €18,995 electric car is set to cause quite a stir
Paul Howard: I said I’d never love another dog as much as I loved Humphrey. I was wrong
‘We will leave when we die. We will have the real life after that’
We had sex maybe once a month. The constant rejection was soul-crushing, it felt like my ex didn’t even like me
At around 6.15am gardaí received a report, and on arrival, the woman told them she was “sexually assaulted by an unknown male who dragged her off a street and down into a park”, the garda said.
The contested bail hearing was told she suffered facial injuries and a large amount of muscle damage to her neck and “that the alleged suspect strangled her throughout the attack”.
It was alleged she had been forced on to the ground and that the attacker opened his trousers, touched inside her underwear with his hand but did not penetrate her.
The court was also told the man allegedly “shouted throughout the incident that he would kill her”.
According to Garda Dineen, the accused was found under a hedge beneath a bridge nearby, and his trousers were open.
Mr Lacatus was arrested at 7.13am and taken to the Garda station, but his detention to be interviewed had to be suspended “due to the level of intoxication”.
The court heard gardaí had CCTV evidence, which was shown to the accused, and DNA samples were taken from him.
The garda said directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) were outstanding, and there could be further serious charges.
He agreed with defence solicitor Paddy McGarry that the accused came to Ireland three years ago, and his family lived here.
The defence proposed he could reside with a friend in Dublin and obey stringent conditions.
Garda Dineen said conditions would not allay his concerns and maintained the accused was caught red-handed.
The judge said bail was the default position and held the garda had not established flight risk to deny bail.
Judge Brennan said the accused had ties to the jurisdiction, and bail could be granted in his bond of €500 with a €3,000 independent surety.
He can only be released once the surety has been lodged. On release, he would have to reside at a specific address furnished to the court and approved by gardaí, provide a contact telephone number, surrender his travel documents within 24 hours, and obey an 11pm to 7am curfew.
Judge Brennan granted legal aid and remanded him in custody with consent to bail to appear again at Cloverhill District Court on August 27th, pending directions from the DPP.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis