A judge has refused to dismiss a charge of soliciting sex from an under-age girl against a former Garda presenter on RTE's Crimeline programme.
Judge John Buckley held in Dublin Circuit Court that it was unnecessary for a particular under-age girl to be available for unlawful carnal knowledge before there could be an offence of soliciting sex from her.
Counsel for Sgt Gerard Lynch, Malahide, had asked the court to throw out the charge of soliciting against his client on the grounds of "impossibility of performance".
Mr John Peart had argued that Sgt Lynch had been charged with soliciting sex with a fictitious 12-year-old girl, "Tanya," and since no such person existed such an offence would be impossible.
Judge Buckley said he was not convinced by Mr Peart's argument and refused a direction dismissing the case against Sgt Lynch. He said he would allow the defence to state a case to the Supreme Court. The court had heard Sgt Lynch had been videotaped during an undercover "sting" by gardai who had recorded an interview between him and an alleged Limerick brothel-keeper in June 1999.
Sgt Lynch denied the charge and claimed to gardai he had been engaged in a "naive" solo investigation into child exploitation when he was arrested by Supt John Kerins.