Man accused of indecently exposing himself outside primary school denied bail | BreakingNews.ie

A 39-year-old man was arrested for indecently exposing himself while “hanging around” outside a Dublin primary school after a pupil saw him, a court has heard.

Raymond Ariwi, whose latest address was at Talbot Street in Dublin 1, was charged over the alleged incident on the afternoon of September 13th, 2023.

He had been denied District Court bail but made a fresh application to the High Court in Cloverhill.

He still faced objections. Garda Sergeant Ray Murphy told the court that it was alleged that gardaí received a report of a man “exposing himself outside the school”.

The court heard that a pupil observed him and contacted their parents, who then alerted the school.

CCTV

Gardaí obtained CCTV from the location. Immediately afterwards, he allegedly went to the Pro-Cathedral in the city centre.

According to the sergeant, the accused engaged with the cathedral’s facilities manager, who noticed “his fly was unzipped and asked him to leave”.

The court heard that gardaí established he was staying at a Talbot Street hostel and asked for him to come to Store Street station.

However, he failed to keep two appointments, and the gardaí went to the address several times but could not locate him.

However, he was found and arrested in April. He also faced an unconnected trespassing charge over an unrelated incident on another date.

The court heard his charges are to be dealt with in the non-jury District Court.

The sergeant said gardaí were concerned he would not show up to his hearing if he were released on bail.

He agreed with the defence counsel that the accused maintained he came from Kenya to Ireland as an unaccompanied minor.

The defence said the accused laboured under mental health and homelessness problems. He would undertake not to take up bail until he had an appointment with a mental health service.

Psychiatric report

Mr Justice Paul Burns said Mr Ariwi was accused of exposing his genitals outside a school. He had the presumption of innocence and, as a corollary, to bail, but the charge was at the upper end of that form of offence.

He said the allegation that a mature man was hanging around outside a school exposing himself was concerning. If convicted, he could face a custodial sentence, and that gave an incentive not to attend the criminal proceedings.

A psychiatric report was provided which, Mr Justice Burns agreed, outlined the man’s illness but showed he was fit to plea.

The court heard that the report also expressed some scepticism that he was being truthful. Bail was refused.

Mr Ariwi appeared via video link but did not address the proceedings. He will appear again later in the District Court to enter a plea.