Elderly Irish man accused of rape fights extradition from SA

File photo: Pexels

File photo: Pexels

Published Nov 17, 2019

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Cape Town - An Irish pensioner wanted in his homeland since 2015 for the repeated alleged rape and sexual assault of his daughter continues to fight his extradition from South Africa.

In the matter playing out in the Western Cape High Court, the 81-year-old - who has been resisting extradition since 2015 - has accepted “that he is liable to be extradited” but claims the Irish authorities have issued an incorrect documentation to do so.

The accused’s name is known to the Weekend Argus but is not being published to protect the identity of his 40-year-old daughter who filed charges when she was in her thirties.

The father’s claim revolves around “insufficient” evidence for extradition because the affidavit accompanying the application is from an Irish prosecutor and not his daughter.

The pensioner was arrested at the Royal Cape Golf Course in November 2016 and was later released on bail.

The accused paedophile has since appeared in court over a dozen times where he has successfully managed to stall his extradition hearing from proceeding.

He was arrested in Ireland in 2012 but fled to Cape Town to escape his Dublin trial that June.

According to the extradition request received by South African authorities in May 2015, the father has been charged with three counts of rape of his daughter, one of attempted rape and 11 counts of sexual assault.

The alleged offences occurred over a period of four years, starting when his daughter was 6 years old. Following therapy she eventually laid charges against him two decades later.

The alleged rapes occurred in a Dublin home, according to the extradition request.

“On these occasions (the accused) is said to have volunteered to bathe (his daughter) where he would sexually assault her, dry her after the bath and then rape her by inserting his penis into her vagina.

“This offence carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.”

The attempted rape allegedly occurred while she was staying with her grandmother in Dublin.

According to Irish prosecutors, “she woke up one night to find (her father) physically on top of her, trying to have intercourse with her. She felt pain at the time and the intercourse was not completed.”

The alleged sexual assaults also occurred in the same Dublin home and another in Wicklow.

Each offence carries a maximum two-year jail sentence.

Weekend Argus

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