Man (25) accused of exposing himself to children at Antrim play park given bail by judge

A MAN has appeared in court in Ballymena charged with causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity at a play park in Antrim town on Saturday.

Ryan O’Lynn (25), unemployed, of Birch Hill Park, Antrim, is also accused of exposing himself.

The first charge the defendant faces is that on May 26 he intentionally incited a child aged under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

The second charge states that the accused intentionally exposed himself in order to cause alarm or distress.

The defendant appeared in the dock at Ballymena Magistrates Court and confirmed he understood the charges.

A detective constable said he believed he could connect the accused to the charges.

A prosecution lawyer said there was to be an application for bail.

The police officer said if bail was granted it would have to be to an address outside Antrim.

He told the court it was alleged a male approached an eight-year-old girl and her friend, a boy aged nine, and tried to get them to go “behind a tree”.

The officer said both children confirmed they had “not been touched”.

The detective said the alleged incident happened in the “vicinity” of a play park and that the children had ran away.

He said there was “great concern” for the welfare of the defendant and said numerous comments had been made on Facebook.

He also said he was not opposed to bail but not in Antrim town. The detective said the accused had taken alcohol at the time of the incident at 7.10pm on Saturday at a “play park in an estate in Antrim”.

Defence solicitor Ciaran Maguire said the defendant “completely denies” the offences and had given “an account” of what happened.

The police officer said O’Lynn “puts himself in the place” but that the accused claimed “he wasn’t aware of anyone else being in the vicinity”.

District Judge Liam McNally said there were two factors he had to take into account.

First of all he said that there was a presumption of innocence and the defendant had indicated he was “not guilty of these offences”.

The second matter was bail. The judge said he believed there may well be a risk of further offences but he said the defendant had no convictions for this type of offence.

He said he was prepared to grant bail with conditions but warned the defendant if there was any breach he faced going into custody.

O’Lynn was released on his own bail of £500 with a surety of £1,000 with conditions.

These include a ban on entering Antrim town and having no contact with any children unless approved by the PSNI or Social Services.

There is to be no contact with the alleged injured party and he is not to be within 100 metres of any school or any public play area. The defendant is also barred from consuming alcohol.

The defendant was released on bail to appear at Antrim Magistrates Court on June 19.