Former lord mayor of Cork charged with sexual assault on minor over a decade ago

A FORMER Lord Mayor of Cork has been remanded on bail after he appeared in court yesterday charged with six counts of sexual assault on a minor over a decade ago.

John Murray (81), a former taxi driver from Gregg Road, Cork, is charged with six counts of sexual assault of a girl at a location in Cork on various dates between 1996 and 1998.

Mr Murray is a member of the Labour Party in Cork and was first elected to Cork City Council in the 1985 local elections having narrowly missed out on a seat in 1979.

He was re-elected in the 1991 local elections again for the South Central Ward but failed to hold the seat in the 1999 local elections after serving a total of14 years.

He was elected Lord Mayor of Cork in 1993 under a pact between Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour, which sees the mayoralty rotate between the three main parties.

Yesterday Mr Murray appeared at Cork District Court where Insp Pat Meaney told Judge Leo Malone that the book of evidence in the case was not ready.

Insp Meaney applied for a two-week adjournment and told the court that the book of evidence would be ready to serve on the defendant on that date.

Judge Malone granted the application and remanded Mr Murray to appear again in court on June 12th for service of the book of evidence.