Armagh All-Ireland winner Aidan Nugent in court on sex charges

The 30-year-old, from Cullyhanna Road in Newtownhamilton, was part of the squad which brought the Sam Maguire back to the Orchard County last July.

He appeared before Armagh Magistrates’ Court, sitting in Newry, on Tuesday, charged with sexual assault; sexual assault by penetration; and two of causing a person to engage in a sexual activity, namely contact with his genitals, on November 17.

The charges were put to Nugent while he spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth.

While none of the facts were given in court, a detective constable said that he could connect Nugent to the charges.

It has been widely reported that the alleged incident took place while the Armagh squad were in Miami in November celebrating their All-Ireland win.

Meanwhile, a prosecutor told the court that the case is proceeding on indictment to the Crown Court where an additional four charges will be levied against the defendant.

Under cross examination from defence solicitor Patrick Higgins, the detective constable agreed that Nugent has been on police bail since November and that there had been no breaches.

The officer also agreed that during formal police interviews, Nugent claimed that “any sexual activity was consensual” and that when he was charged with the offences Nugent replied that “I deny the allegations - it was consensual.”

The prosecution asked for the case to be adjourned until June 3 when a preliminary enquiry date will be set.

They also requested an additional bail condition for Nugent not to contact two witnesses “except for the purposes of football”. This was objected to by Mr Higgins and ultimately District Judge Anne Marshall did not alter the conditions.

DJ Marshall adjourned the case until June 3 and told Nugent that he did not need to attend on that date.