A man has been refused bail following the suspicious approach of a child in Carrickmacross on Monday.
30-year-old Catalin Ianco with an address at Shinan, Shercock County Cavan appeared before Monaghan District Court this afternoon.
The Court heard the incident took place at the Lidl supermarket at Magheross, Carrickmacross at 7.45 on Monday evening, when the accused approached an eight-year-old girl and made an attempt to drag her, before she screamed and her mother grabbed her.
The girl was uninjured, except for some redness to her arm.
Garda Mark Doherty of Carrickmacross Garda Station told the Court that the accused made no reply when charged with abduction under Section 17 of the Non-Fatal Offences against a Person Act the following evening.
The incident was recorded on CCTV, and during interviews, he made an admission that it was done in jest.
Catalin Ianco sat with his Romanian interpreter for the duration of today's bail application but didn't speak himself.
Defence said it was meant as a joke and he didn't intend to take the girl.
It was said he mistook the girl for a male child of an acquaintance who was nearby at the time.
Judge Denis McLaughlin refused bail for the accused and remanded him in custody to Cloverhill Prison to appear before Cloverhill District Court next Tuesday.
