A County Tyrone man accused of sexually assaulting a female relative of his now ex-partner has been granted bail despite strong police objections.
The accused, who is aged in his thirties but cannot be named to protect the identity of the alleged victim, is charged with two counts of sexual assault as well as making and possessing indecent child imagery.
Offending allegedly occurred over various dates between June 22 2025 and May 14 this year.
A police officer told Strabane Magistrates’ Court the charges could be connected.
He explained police received a report from the accused’s ex-partner who had found indecent images of the alleged victim on his phone.
Doorbell footage also captured him assaulting the alleged victim and making sexual gestures towards her.
The ex-partner said she had lately noticed the accused was spending prolonged periods of time in the bathroom which made her suspicious.
She checked an old phone which she believed was no longer in use and discovered a hidden folder containing three photographs, two of which were of the alleged victim’s face superimposed onto a naked adult female body.
Following this the ex-partner checked the doorbell footage in which showed the alleged victim cycling into the garden, where she was met by the accused who leaned over and touched her breast causing her to “instantaneously draw back.”
The accused then walked behind a fence post and appeared to rub himself against it while maintaining eye contact with the alleged victim.
Meanwhile, the alleged victim made a number of additional disclosures to a relative, contending the accused “mounted” her in bed in the middle of the night and asked why she was wearing so many layers.
There were other instances of him allegedly following her around wearing only a shirt and with his genitals exposed.
She also claimed he had grabbed her hand in an attempt to make her touch him sexually.
The ex-partner added the day before she contacted police, he called her into their bedroom, stating, “How about you bring (alleged victim) and I’ll ride the a**e off both of you” while he carried out a sexual act on himself.
He was arrested and generally answered ‘no comment’ to all questions, “Neither denying nor admitting the offences, or supplying any explanation for the images.”
The officer continued, “Since arrest there have been further reports of the defendant brandishing a knife and threatening to kill his ex-partner and slapping the alleged victim of the sexual matters across the face. This is currently under investigation as are a number of other disclosures.”
He stressed, “The ex-partner advises she and the alleged victim are terrified of the defendant and have grave concerns of what he may do if granted bail. She has stated unequivocally that she does not believe he would abide by any conditions imposed upon him and he has little-to-no concern when dealing with police. However notwithstanding the horrible circumstances, there was originally no suitable address for release although one has now become available which is some distance away and there are no children there.”
This was confirmed by a defence solicitor who accepted, “These are very serious allegations, but I should say the defendant disavows any knowledge of the images on the phone and is absolutely clear in his denial of all matters. Significantly, he provided police with all access codes and welcomes examination of his devices.”
District Judge Alana McSorley decided bail could be granted with stringent conditions including no contact with the alleged victim and the ex-partner, exclusion from County Tyrone, a ban on possessing any internet-capable device and no unsupervised contact with anyone under 18
The case will return to court on October 15.
