Man on sex abuse charges to remain in prison

A man on trial for sex offences against four minors had his appeal overruled on Monday, with the Supreme Court agreeing his detention in prison should be upheld, after he was accused of badgering witnesses.

The case concerns an ongoing trial against a man who has been charged with sexual-related crimes between 2003 and 2015, against four girls who were aged between seven and 17 at the time.

Though the trial is ongoing and he has pleaded not guilty, the man had not been in detention for the duration of the court hearing. On May 11, a court order ruled he needed to be detained, after two of his alleged victims reported him for calling them.

The detention order was to ensure witnesses in the case would not be badgered.

Nonetheless, the man appealed the decision, denying that he ever made the calls and specifying that the time that has elapsed since he spoke to them would have made it questionable that they remembered his voice.

He also alleged the sincerity of the victims should have been called into question in their allegations that he called them.

According to the Supreme Court decision, one of the young women reported the man told her court proceedings were tiring for everyone involved and she should think about if she wanted to go through with it.

He was also accused of telling her to reconsider her decision and do it for his kids, if not for him. He said he would call her back in a few days to get her response.

The Supreme Court rubbished the grounds of his appeal, highlighting one of the reports came from the oldest females. In its ruling, the Supreme Court said the initial court decision ordering his decision was apt and properly justified.