AN application is to be made to have a 24-year-old man charged with raping a woman in a Co Tyrone park deemed unfit to stand trial.
However, a judge told Dungannon Crown Court he is not prepared to delay listing the hearing, saying “there is a complainant to consider as well as the defendant”.
James Wright, of Derrylee Road, Dungannon, was initially refused bail but later released to a secure hospital on six charges arising from an incident on April 27 2016.
He faces three counts each of rape and sexual assault on a woman who was walking her dog in Peatlands Park near Dungannon.
At the most recent court sitting, a defence lawyer provided an expert report which assessed Wright as unfit both to stand trial and to provide legal instructions, and a lawyer for the prosecution accepted this as the agreed position.
However, a formal procedure must take place in which doctors for both the defence and prosecution present their findings and a judge makes a ruling.
Judge Stephen Fowler pressed for a listing of the fitness hearing as soon as possible.
When a prosecution lawyer said his expert was not available until December, the judge said: “That is too far away. I am prepared to sit early or into late afternoon to facilitate this case.
"There is a complainant here to consider as well as the defendant. Unfortunately in my view December is not an option.”
The lawyer said he would liaise directly with his expert in an effort to speed up the case.
Judge Fowler said he will review the case next week.
