Man's alleged abduction attempt of boy (5) was 'misguided foolish ...

Visak Rajesh Leela (25), who allegedly tried to take the child, can now be named after an earlier reporting ban was lifted today.

Judge Alan Mitchell ruled the media can identify him but cannot report his address, taking account of the “social media-fuelled climate we live in.”

Mr Leela's defence said he was adamant that the incident was nothing more than "misguided foolish horseplay by a drunk man" and he would be contesting the case.

Judge Mitchell remanded the accused in custody at Cloverhill District Court and adjourned the case for DPP directions.

Mr Leela, a postgraduate student from India with an address in south Dublin is charged with unlawfully attempting to take a child or cause a child to be taken or detained.

The offence is alleged to have happened at an address in north Dublin on Saturday, September 14.

Mr Leela first came before Dublin District Court on Monday but a bail application had been deferred to today.

Objecting to bail, Detective Garda Basil Grimes said the accused was attending a celebration at an apartment complex, and CCTV showed him engaging with two young children - a brother and sister. It was alleged that after the young boy is seen at a door, Mr Leela follows him inside and they go out of shot.

When he appears again, “the child is under the accused’s right arm” and he removes him from the building, Det Sgt Grimes said.

The girl then runs out the door after them and all three return. The children re-enter the building and the accused tries to open the door before leaving the area.

Det Sgt Grimes said the maximum potential sentence was seven years and gardai feared the accused was a flight risk. Mr Leela, who had been in Ireland for 10 months on a student visa, had no financial or family ties to Ireland, and could leave the jurisdiction, Sgt Grimes said.

Applying for bail, defence solicitor Michael Kelleher said his client had been at a party, he was intoxicated and a doctor deemed him not fit for interview for six hours.

He had been “very forthcoming” to gardai and was “adamant that he had no sinister intent in all this.”

His reply to the charge after caution was: “I was not taking the child anywhere. I am not a person like that. I do not have any intentions with a child. I do not have any bad or unwanted intentions with a child.”

The accused had volunteered passwords to his phone and home computer.

On the seriousness of the charge, Mr Kelleher said the court should be concerned not with any “moral revulsion” but the likely sentence. The court routinely granted bail on “far more serious charges,” he said.

“He’s extremely anxious to contest the matter,” Mr Kelleher said.

If the case went to trial it would be up to a jury to decide if the incident was “extremely misguided, foolish horseplay by a drunk man” or “something far more sinister," Mr Kelleher continued. “We are absolutely adamant that it’s the former."

He warned against a “lazy presumption” in the courts that “every foreigner is a flight risk.”

The accused was hoping to extend his visa to work here for two years. The court heard Mr Leela had no connection to the apartment building and lived on the other side of the city. Judge Mitchell said the accused was presumed innocent but he refused bail, saying the gardai had established he was a flight risk.

John Freeman BL, representing media outlets including Mediahuis asked the judge to lift reporting restrictions that had been imposed by another judge at the request of the gardai in Dublin District Court on Monday.

Mr Freeman said the accused was a stranger to the alleged victim and the case was a “long way” from meeting the criteria for reporting restrictions on the accused’s identity.

When gardai sought the restriction on Monday, they had cited the “current climate in the country" and the “sensitive nature” of the case.

Today, State solicitor Niamh McKernan said the prosecution’s only concern was that the alleged victim was not identified. Det Sgt Grimes said that having reviewed the information, gardai were satisfied that naming Mr Leela would not lead to the identification of any children.

Judge Mitchell said he was lifting the earlier prohibition on naming of the accused, but said the address should not be published.

“We have a climate where people turn up outside the home of the taoiseach and cause public order incidents,” the judge said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a situation here.”

He said the address should be limited to south Dublin “having regard to the unfortunate climate we are in at present” which was “fuelled by social media.”

he accused, who appeared by video link, did not speak during the bail hearing and was remanded in custody to appear in court again on October 2.