George Gibney to appear in court in US next week following arrest
George Gibney
is due to appear in a United States court next week after being
arrested over alleged historical sexual abuse in Ireland.
Gibney, who is in his 70s, was arrested on Tuesday after a
Garda
request was made to the US State Department to extradite him to Ireland to face more than 50 charges relating to alleged historical child sex abuse.
A Garda investigation into several fresh allegations that Gibney sexually abused children in his care as a swimming coach several decades ago has been ongoing. It is understood gardaí submitted the extradition request to US authorities late last year.
He was taken into custody in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday by US authorities, with court records showing Gibney subsequently submitted a financial affidavit before being granted a federal public defender as his attorney by federal magistrate judge Daniel Irick.
READ MORE
Following Gibney's arrest, Judge Irick granted an order of temporary detention and scheduled a detention hearing for next Friday at 10am local time.
Gardaí spent several months preparing the paperwork for the extradition request, following a renewed criminal investigation into allegations that Gibney abused multiple children when he was a swimming coach in Ireland.
Gibney was a well-known coach at the Trojan swimming club in Dublin during the 1980s and 1990s, before abuse revelations emerged publicly.
He previously faced criminal charges in 1993, appearing before Dún Laoghaire District Court charged with 27 counts of indecency against young swimmers and of having carnal knowledge of girls under the age of 15.
However, he successfully halted that prosecution by taking a judicial review, where his lawyers argued there was a delay in the offences coming to court and a lack of precision in defining specific alleged incidents.
The legal challenge ended up in the Supreme Court, which ruled in his favour. Gibney fled Ireland afterwards, spending time in Scotland before moving to the US.
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