Rape accused rebailed over tags

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A Belfast man accused of raping a 15-year-old girl has been readmitted to bail due to suspected faults in the equipment used to monitor him.

A judge ordered Marcus McMullan, 18, to be released under tight conditions and urged proper testing of any new system.

Mr McMullan, of Wynchurch Park, was also banned from associating with any girls under 18 other than relatives.

He faces charges of rape and sexual assault over an alleged incident in September this year.

Mr McMullan was granted High Court bail last week, with electronic tagging and a night-time curfew imposed on him.

But he was returned to Belfast Magistrates Court after the monitoring system appeared to detect suspected incidents where he had left home after hours.

A police officer reported a number of incidents in the early hours of 27 December where, according to the monitoring system, Mr McMullan went out for a matter of minutes and returned again.

But relatives of the accused gave evidence that he was at home at all times.

A defence lawyer argued no breach had been proven, and that there was reason to believe the equipment was not functioning properly.

District Judge George Conner ruled that he was prepared to "give the defendant the benefit of the doubt".

He said the time and duration of the instances appeared to back claims of a fault in the equipment.

"I have heard from the family and if they are covering for Mr McMullan then they are behaving very foolishly and irresponsibly," Mr Conner said.

"After weighing up all the evidence it is the time and duration of the alleged breaches that causes me some concern.

"He is automatically released on the existing High Court bail."

As part of his conditions Mr McMullan is to continue to be electronically tagged and remain at home between 1900 and 0700 GMT.

The judge added: "I trust in installing electronic equipment it will be properly tested.

"The first sign of any breach, should be investigated by police and not left for three or four hours."