Man to face child sex charges
A 25-year-old man is to go on trial accused of rape and child sex offences stretching back more than a decade, a judge has ruled.
Gerard Auld faces 12 charges including indecent assault on a girl, gross indecency and sexually touching three girls aged under 16.
The alleged offences were committed on dates between June 1998 and May 2009, Belfast Magistrates Court heard.
Mr Auld, gave an address in the Crumlin area of County Antrim.
He declined to give any evidence or call witnesses in response to the allegations during a preliminary enquiry hearing.
A judge accepted prosecution submissions that there was a case against him to answer.
Mr Auld was returned for trial to Belfast Crown Court on a date to be fixed and released on his own bail of £500.