A Cringila man charged with having under-age sex with a 15-year-old-girl has been released on strict conditional bail after telling a magistrate he’d had no contact with the child since January.
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Police allege Tyson Nicholas Garrahy, 27, had sex with the girl at least twice late last year, once in his home and another time on City Beach.
Garrahy denied the accusations in Wollongong Local Court yesterday, entering not guilty pleas to two counts of having sexual intercourse with a person aged 14 to 16. The legal age of consent in NSW is 16.
Garrahy’s lawyer, Jonathan Kearney, said his client admitted knowing the girl but denied they had sex.
Police documents tendered to the court during Garrahy’s bail application said the pair had agreed to ‘‘hang out’’ together after running into each other on a bus near Cringila. The girl accompanied Garrahy on a series of errands before the pair headed to City Beach to eat takeaway food.
It is alleged Garrahy and the girl had sex on the beach after Garrahy told her he liked her. They then went their separate ways and did not see each other until Garrahy contacted the girl a couple of weeks later and asked her to come to his house. Garrahy picked her up 10 minutes later and they drove to Figtree to buy alcohol, before driving to another location to collect two of the girl’s friends. The group returned to Garrahy’s house and drank two bottles of vodka.
Police allege Garrahy and the girl had sex in his bedroom once the girl’s friends had left for the night.
The police documents said the girl began staying at Garrahy’s house and they had sex most evenings.
The girl later moved out of the area and the pair ceased contact.
The matter came to police attention in October and the girl was interviewed by child abuse squad detectives in Parramatta.
Garrahy voluntarily attended Wollongong Police Station yesterday morning and was interviewed before being charged.
Mr Kearney told the court Garrahy strongly denied the allegations.
Magistrate Susan McGowan agreed to grant Garrahy strict bail after the prosecution confirmed the girl no longer lived in the Illawarra. The matter will return to court on January 29.