A 34-year-old man is to go on trial at the Crown Court in Derry charged with raping a woman in a hotel in Spain almost five years ago.
At his arraignment before Judge Gemma Loughran Q.C., the defendant, Michael Joseph Cregan, from Ferguson Street in the city, replied not guilty when the charge was put to him by a court clerk.
The defendant is charged that between July 31 and August 20 in 2014, he raped the woman in the Hotel Los Alamos in Malaga.
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Defence barrister Ciaran Mallon Q.C. told Judge Loughran that it was a very unusual case in that the incident was alleged to have taken place in Spain.
He said because both the defendant and the complainant lived in Northern Ireland, the defendant could be prosecuted in this jurisdiction for an alleged offence in Spain.
Mr Mallon said the complainant made her allegation in Northern Ireland.
The barrister said as part of the defence case he might have to apply to the Legal Aid Services for the authority to inspect the scene of the alleged incident.
"There are no photographs of the scene of the alleged incident. The allegation relates to circumstances where the complainant's father was in an adjoining bedroom therefore photographs would be required", he said.
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A prosecution barrister said there were no photographs from the scene as yet.
Judge Loughran said normally in such cases, if an alleged crime was committed in Northern Ireland, photographs of the scene would be provided.
She adjourned the case until April 8 when the issue of photographs will be addressed by the prosecution.
Meanwhile a date for the trial, which is expected to last one week, was provisionally fixed for the end of next September and the defendant was released on continuing bail until then.
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