Ballymena child rape case already behind schedule court is told

Having heard that the victim allegedly raped by Crisos Sonet is a 13-year-old schoolgirl, District Judge Nigel Broderick said the case was not just a “purple file” but was also a “protocol file.”

As such, the case should have already been sent to the Crown Court “by direct transfer” within four weeks of charges being laid so “it’s already been delayed,” the judge told Ballymena Magistrates Court.

Sonet, a Filipino national with an address at Clarence Street in Ballymena, is in custody accused of a single count of rape on 24 May this year.

A second man, 36-year-old Garry Luna, of the same address, is also in custody, charged with five offences, alleged to have been committed against two teenage girls, between “an unknown date in March” and 24 May this year.

Luna faces charges of sexual communication, common assault, inciting a child aged 13-16 to engage in sexual activity, sexual assault and further that he “facilitated or arranged for something to be done” which would involve sexual activity with a child.

An earlier court heard that according to the police case, the charges “stemmed from a report from the complainant that she had been seriously sexually assaulted on 24 May.”

During an unsuccessful application for bail on behalf of Luna, a police officer told the court the alleged victim had provided an account that “she had been with a friend when they met the defendant and he took both girls” to his home on Clarence Street.

“The complainant stated that both girls had been communicating with him by Facebook Messenger for a number of weeks prior to this,” said the detective.

At Luna’s home, he allegedly “took them into the living room of the property” where he tried to kiss her and was “nipping her on the leg.”

“Grabbing her by the arm,” Luna is alleged to have led the girl upstairs and into a bedroom where Sonet was “sitting on the bed.”

The teenager has reported to police that Sonet subjected her to a “serious sexual assault,” the court heard.

When the alleged victim got out of the room and went downstairs, she “heard her friend shouting from one of the bedrooms” and after she helped her open the door, both girls left the property.

In court today, a prosecuting lawyer said while the the PPS have the Achieving Best Evidence video interviews with the alleged victims, she conceded the case should already have been sent to the Crown Court.

Remanding Sonet back into custody, Judge Broderick adjourned the case for a week and ordered that the investigating officer “must attend and confirm they have sent the file to the PPS.”

Warning that there are to be “no excuses,” the judge added that while he is not sitting next Thursday, if the file is not ready then “list for the week after and I will deal with it”.