David Raleigh
Two women and a man were refused bail at a court tonight after being charged with abducting two brothers, aged nine and four years.
The three defendants, aged 51, 41, and 34, all with addresses in Northern Ireland, were each charged before Nenagh District Court, with two counts of abducting a child.
The court heard the maximum sentence on conviction on indictment is seven years in prison.
The boys were the subject of a nationwide media alert last week issued by the gardaí in conjunction with the PSNI, after the boys were last seen in Belfast on May 14th.
Bail hearing
During bail hearings for the three accused, gardaí alleged that all three acted together to abduct and traffic the two male siblings out of Ireland on a ferry to France last Tuesday.
The three defendants were arrested by gardaí at a dilapidated house at Stradaroher Court, Thurles, Co Tipperary, on May 25th, the court heard.
The court heard uncontested evidence that when gardaí entered a rundown property in Thurles on May 25th, they found a 51-year-old woman and a teenage girl, in the company of the two boys who had been the subject of the media appeal.
Judge Elizabeth MacGrath said she was satisfied to refuse bail for all three defendants, which she said they are entitled to appeal before the High Court.
She remanded the three defendants in custody to Limerick Prison to appear before Tipperary District Court, on June 2nd via video link.
