A man who absconded to the United States after pleading guilty to a charge of rape was remanded in custody and told in the Central Criminal Court yesterday that he would be sentenced on October 15th.
Mr Justice Paul Carney was told that Michael Christian Moran (29) of Woodgrove, Tullow Road, Carlow, had been caught by the FBI just over six weeks ago and handed over to gardaí in Boston last Thursday.
Det Garda Frank Stephenson said Moran had been brought to Dublin airport, where he was arrested on foot of a bench warrant issued in October 2001 by the Central Criminal Court.
Moran was arrested by the FBI's violent fugitive taskforce as he worked on remodelling a house in Rosendale, New York.
He had been listed by the FBI as a "wanted fugitive, which should be considered armed and dangerous". FBI sources revealed that the break in the manhunt had come when an anonymous tipster called the police, who then alerted the FBI as to Moran's whereabouts.
Moran had been a fugitive in the US since fleeing Ireland six years ago after pleading guilty on July 24th, 2001, to raping a 27-year-old woman in a residential area of Carlow town while she was walking home from a hen party.
His sentence had been adjourned to October 12th, 2001, but a bench warrant was issued on that date when he failed to appear.
At that time, Mr Justice Carney appealed to the media for help in trying to locate Moran, and another man who had also absconded, by publishing photographs of them.
Mr Justice Carney yesterday asked for a victim impact report to be provided for the court.