A WOMAN wanted in connection with serious child sex offences in Lithuania was found hiding in a wardrobe near Coalisland.
Monika Patapovaite (23) with an address of Annaghmore Road, was arrested on Wednesday on foot of an extradition warrant by the Lithuanian authorities.
Officers from the International Policing Unit forced entry to a rural property this week and located her in the wardrobe.
Counsel for the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) explained to the Extradition Court in Laganside in Belfast yesterday that the defendant was convicted of sexually assaulting a child on November 24, 2022.
The offences occurred in the Mazeikiai area of Lithuania in 2018, resulting in Patapovaite’s arrest shortly after. She spent a number of weeks in custody.
Release
However, following her release she fled to England but was arrested in November 2021 and extradited to Lithuania, spending over a year in custody until she was sentenced.
She was handed two years in custody, suspended for two years with conditions to comply with probation, rehabilitation and to inform authorities of any residence change prior to moving.
Some time after her sentencing Patapovaite relocated to the North, prompting a breach of the suspended sentence conditions and a fresh extradition warrant for her to serve the remaining 11 months left on that sentence.
Opposed
Defence counsel Turlough Madden told the court that the extradition warrant was opposed and that bail would be sought for the defendant.
Mr Madden explained that Patapovaite is engaged to a man and has a four-year-old child living in the North.
However, due to the early nature of the case a bail hearing was not ready to proceed and the case was adjourned by is honour Judge Philip Gilpin to Friday, June 12, at Laganside Courthouse.