Detective work led to conviction

Meticulous detective work by gardaí secured the conviction of a German man for the abuse of an Irish girl in this State 17 years ago.

Det Insp Tom Dixon of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation outlined how gardaí identified the crime and the victim, on RTÉ Radio yesterday.

He was speaking from Germany after Andreas Lewicki was sentenced to 3½ years in prison for the abuse of the six-year-old girl in 1985.

He had been in custody since 1996, after being arrested in the Czech Republic on sex abuse charges.

Lewicki had been living in Switzerland at that time and when Swiss police searched his bank safety-deposit box in Zurich, they found four videotapes in which the unknown victim spoke English.

These four tapes were sent to the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Harcourt Square, Dublin, and investigations began to establish the identity of the girl.

Investigating officers tracked the date of the abuse with the help of a television, which was on in the background. A news bulletin referred to a fire in Cobh, Co Cork, which happened in June 1985.

Stills were taken from the video and enlarged. The suspect and victim were airbrushed from the picture and gardaí set about calling to hotels in the Dublin area to identify the room.

They finally discovered that the abuse occurred in a room in the Burlington Hotel.

The abuser had been very thorough in setting up the abuse. He had used three cameras and a monitor, "the best of equipment", Det Insp Dixon said.

The girl's first name was mentioned on the tape and a comment was made about her medical condition. This led officers on a trawl of hospitals to see if a girl with that name had been treated for that condition.

The victim's name was discovered and gardaí approached her family, with the help of a health board child psychologist. The girl, now 23, was not aware of the abuse when contacted by gardaí, Det Insp Dixon said.

"She's a remarkable young girl. She said this morning that while it has been very, very tough for her, she's glad that she was told about it. She did not remember the abuse."

He said she had got counselling and was coping well. "It has been terribly traumatic on the family."

Travelling to Germany to give evidence had brought the experience to the fore again, he said.

Det Insp Dixon said two more suspects were now being investigated. "This is the first half of the investigation. The second half will be bringing the two other persons to justice in Ireland," he said.

Lewicki came to Ireland in 1977 when he opened an electronics factory in Spollanstown Industrial Estate in Tullamore, Co Offaly. He sold his company a year after the abuse took place but stayed on as a consultant for 18 months.

He came to public attention in 1995 when he was arrested in the Philippines for the sexual abuse of a minor.

He fled while on bail but was then arrested in the Czech Republic on other charges a year later.