Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Police issue alert over itunes gift card scam 40yr-old for trial charged with raping teenage boy
A MAN is to stand trial charged with raping a teenage boy, a judge ordered yesterday.
Gerard Scannell allegedly carried out the sex attack at Falls Park in West Belfast in July last year.
The defendant, previously of Ballymurphy Road in the city, denies three counts of rape and a further sexual assault on the 16-year-old.
Appearing before Belfast Magistrate’s Court for a preliminary enquiry, the 40-year-old confirmed he understood the charges against him.
Scannell declined to give evidence or call witnesses at this stage.
Defence counsel Mark Farrell did not challenge submissions his client has a case to answer.
District Judge Fiona Bagnall granted a prosecution application to have Scannell returned for Crown Court trial at a later date, releasing him on continuing bail to live at an undisclosed address.
It was also confirmed Scannell will be represented by senior and junior counsel due to the seriousness of the charges. TWO men are halfway to completing a 1,550-mile trek for dementia research.
Co Armagh man Eamonn Donnelly and his friend Sepp Tieber from Graz in Austria are crossing Europe.
They reached the midway point of their Long Walk Home expedition near the town of Antheny in Northern France. It is a journey they are due to complete by arriving in Eamonn’s home village of Keady early next month. Eamonn has lived in Austria since 1990 and the venture was inspired by his mother Margaret who died aged 71 having suffered from a rare and aggressive form of dementia.
You can follow the men’s progress or make a donation by visiting https:// thelongwalkhome.wixsite.com/ thelongwalkhome.