A data engineer has been accused of sexually assaulting a young schoolgirl for 40 minutes while travelling on a bus in Dublin.
Indian national Vimalkarthik Balasubramanian, 26, with an address at Castlegate Park, Lucan, Co Dublin, was charged with sexually assaulting the girl when she was travelling home from school on a date in April. He has been held on €7,000 bail.
Dublin District Court heard claims that gardaí identified the accused from his Leapcard account.
He appeared before Judge Treasa Kelly, who said nothing must reported that could identify the alleged injured party.
Garda James Byrne told Judge Kelly the accused made no reply to the charge. The officer also objected to bail.
Detective Garda Liam Mangan told the court that gardaí took a report nine days after the alleged incident when the girl told her mother.
The girl who had a specialist interview complained that it happened when she got a bus home from school.
It was alleged the accused, a married app data engineer, sat across from her, went downstairs before he returned to the top deck, passed other seats and "sat next to her".
The court heard he was not known to her.
The child had her headphones on and was watching Netflix on her phone, which was also charging.
The court heard claims that the man kept a backpack on his lap while he allegedly "placed his hand on her left thigh and began rubbing her leg with his thumb. The injured party stated he touched her under her clothing."
The court heard it lasted 40 minutes; the girl was in her school uniform, and "she kept trying to shove him away".
The girl "froze" but texted a family member to say what was happening. She then used her phone to take photos of the man.
Gardaí allegedly recovered them along with CCTV evidence from the bus.
The bail hearing was told that when the girl started taking pictures of him, he pulled up his hood, and she filmed him before he went downstairs and got off the bus.
The judge heard gardaí got the defendant's details because his Leapcard was linked to his bank account, and they went to his former address, but he was not there.
His HR manager told gardai the accused had gone to India, but he returned later to live at a new address in Dublin.
Detective Garda Mangan feared he would leave again and could work remotely.
He had a visa and had been employed in Ireland for several years, but the detective was concerned that the man had no ties to this jurisdiction apart from his job.
Cross-examined by defence counsel Garrett Casey, the detective agreed that the allegation was that his client touched her thigh, and it was not claimed that there was any genital contact.
He also accepted the accused had the presumption of innocence and no prior convictions or warrant history.
Directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions have yet to be obtained about whether the case will be dealt with in the District Court or go forward to the Circuit Court, which has wider sentencing powers.
Pleading for bail, counsel asked the judge to attach considerable weight to the evidence that the accused returned in full knowledge that gardaí were looking for him. That, counsel argued, did not suggest he intended to evade them or flee, which he could have already done.
He had also gone to India to assist in arranging a family funeral.
Counsel said Mr Balasubramanian, who did not address the court and is yet to enter a plea, would obey bail conditions.
Judge Kelly said that while gardaí had strong grounds to object to bail, she was satisfied that they did not reach the threshold to deny his application.
She set his bond at €7,000, of which he must lodge €5,000 and she imposed a range of conditions.
He was remanded in custody with consent to bail to appear at Cloverhill District Court on November 16th. Legal aid was granted.
