Refusing to free the 47-year-old on bail, District Judge Peter Magill revealed the defendant has more than 30 previous convictions for similar offending and breaching requirements of the sex offenders register so “I am not prepared to grant him bail”. "This man is a clear and present danger to children on the evidence before me,” he told Ballymena Magistrates Court. Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to NorthernIrelandWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
The 47-year-old Co Antrim man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, appeared in the dock facing three charges arising from an alleged incident in Carrickfergus on Wednesday, June 19 including exposure, indecent behaviour and outraging public decency by performing an act which was ‘disgusting and lewd in nature’. While a police officer gave evidence that he believed he could connect the defendant to each of the charges, Judge Magill read a synopsis of the case into the record, outlining how police were called by a member of the public who saw the defendant “performing a sexual act on himself”. He told the court the incident happened around the Bridewell Drive area of Carrickfergus and initially, the witness “thought he has trying to locate a place to go to the toilet but he was in fact masturbating while attempting to hide behind a wall”.
"There were a number of children in the location and the area is close to a primary school,” .
