Child snatch bid man told to leave country

A MAN who attempted to abduct a five-year-old child from an apartment complex has been handed a three-year suspended prison sentence and told to leave the jurisdiction within the next two weeks.

- BY NATASHA REID and EIMEAR DODD

Visak Rajesh Leela, 26, with an address in South Dublin, pleaded guilty to the attempted abduction on September 14, 2024 from an apartment block in Dublin.

The defendant told gardai he did not remember the incident as he was intoxicated after attending a party.

He said that he did not know why he ran after the child and pushed him out of the building. However, he suggested that perhaps he thought that he knew the children.