Despite police objections and the comments of a judge who slammed the apparent “victim-blaming” of a highly vulnerable girl, the man accused of abducting her has been granted bail to reside at the Clinton Centre in Enniskillen.

During an attempt to be released last month the judge on that occasion was scathing of the centre manager, Keith McNair, for portraying the girl as the predator of Alioune Sow (19) who has formed a relationship with her.

She lives in a care facility from which she regularly goes missing and police have serious concerns over child sexual exploitation.

A detective previously told Enniskillen Magistrates Court care staff checked the girl's phone following another incident overnight on October 21, and images appeared to show she was with Sow.

He was served with a Child Abduction Warning Notice on September 24 and when arrested, denied being with the girl and then said she has come to him five times.

Care staff believe the girl is sexually active as condoms have been found in her property and she has requested the morning-after pill on occasions.

The detective continued: “While missing for almost 24 hours (girl) was considered high-risk of immediate harm. The defendant is the adult in this situation and it’s up to him to cease all contact.”

Mr. McNair explained following a request by Sow’s stepmother he was “very happy to offer a bail address” at the centre.

However, he criticised how police conducted bail checks as the centre “is private property".

"It is not a public building. There’s no unauthorised access. On occasion police have requested access codes to my property. As far as I’m aware police don’t have free access to private property without lawful authority. They have demanded access to my property. As a former police officer, I do not expect them to be domineering, aggressive or bullying. It’s necessary they conduct themselves within the law.”

Sow, described as the son of an international musician, is “very bright and intelligent" by Mr. McNair. 

"I thoroughly enjoy his company. We have good fun. He has been to my home with his father and stepmother for dinner and we had a great time.”

He said he has written to the Western Trust Chief Executive because: “Ali is not the issue. This girl is persistently pursuing him. The collective response has unfortunately not worked. She’s chasing him.”

The judge on that occasion detected a contention “that this is somehow the child’s fault".

"I have considerable alarm around victim-blaming and claiming she’s the predator. The police task has been made more difficult by the Clinton Centre regime and I’m not satisfied appropriate measures will be taken.”

Bail was refused but the matter came back before the most recent sitting on Wednesday where it emerged Mr. McNair had written to the court and police.

While the content was not disclosed the same detective stated Mr McNair “talks about it not being unlawful for Sow and the child to be friends and that in a few months they can legally cohabit".

"That concerns me greatly. This girl is high risk and the care staff have made it clear she should not be in his company.”

The detective said bail in principle was not opposed but any address should be outside the Enniskillen area along with, “issues when conducting bail checks at the Clinton Centre".

He added the girl went missing 12 times in September, but this has completely ceased since Sow was remanded in custody.

Giving evidence again, Mr. McNair said he recognised the difficulties care staff “seem to have when (girl) goes missing".

"What can they do other than call police? I will be having an in-depth conversion with Alioune setting out the absolute necessity for him to stay away from (girl) for his own sake. That is with no grudge towards her.”

He also requested that care staff contact him should the girl go missing, so that he could make Sow aware as “that might act as a bridge, because it seems the care staff can only call police.”

Moving onto bail checks Mr. McNair said: “While police are busy, my aspiration is they might on occasion sit down and have a quick cup of coffee.

"This is all part of building a positive relationship to help Alioune understand police are there for his benefit, but the checks must be conducted within the law. That’s non-negotiable.”

He added if the girl has gone missing, he did not object to police “coming in quietly, calmly, discreetly and checking Alioune’s room.”

The detective pointed out: “Time is of the essence in a missing person case. It’s very difficult for us to get to the defendant’s room in the Clinton Centre within 10 minutes of police being made aware and our worry is that anyone who may have been in the room will have left.

"That’s why we have concerns over the use of the building for bail.”

However, District Judge Alana McSorley agreed to release Sow to reside at the centre but warned any breach of conditions would see him returned immediately to custody.

She decided to monitor the situation and listed the case for mention again on December 11.