Ex-Sinn Fein press officer given 24 hours to appear in court to face child sex abuse charges
NO SHOW | The defendant, who is on court bail, faces 13 charges of attempting to sexually communicate with children for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification
Michael McMonagle (file pic)A former Sinn Fein press officer has been given 24 hours to appear before a judge in Londonderry to answer 15 charges of child sex abuse.Michael Gerard McMonagle failed to show today for his arraignment.Judge Philip Babington ordered the 42-year-old, from Limewood Street in the Bogside area of the city, to turn up by tomorrow.Last April when the defendant was arraigned on the charges he pleaded not guilty to them all.He was due in court today to be re-arraigned on all of the charges he'd originally denied, but he failed to turn up.His legal team told Judge Babington that they could think of no explanation as to why the defendant was not in court. They said they had tried to contact him by mobile phone and by calling at his home address, but they were unable to locate him.The defendant, who is on court bail, faces 13 charges of attempting to sexually communicate with children for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification.He also faces one charge of attempting to incite a girl under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity involving penetration and one charge of attempting to incite another female child under the age of 16 to engage in a sex act.McMonagle alleged to have committed the offences on dates between May 2020 and August 2021.Judge Babington said he would not immediately issue a bench warrant for the defendant's arrest but said he would give the defendant 24 hours to appear before him to answer the charges.A barrister for the Public Prosecution Service said that a trial date in the case had been fixed for next Monday that involved prosecution witnesses travelling from England. He said that trial was not now expected to take place.Defence barrister Dean Mooney said "a trial will not be required on Monday. If there are any witnesses on standby they will not be required on Monday. I cannot think of any reason for his non-attendance in court today".When the case was first listed in August last year the defendant failed to turn up in court.
