A bench warrant has been issued for a Lithuanian national who failed to appear at the Central Criminal Court for trial for allegedly raping a Galway woman and who is also wanted for a serious offence in his home country.

Mr Justice Paul Carney has also directed the release of the accused's partner who acted as his bailsperson and whose arrest he had also ordered on Friday when the 38-year-old man failed to appear for the start of his trial.

She was arrested on Sunday and held overnight before being brought before Mr Justice Carney who was told by Detective Sergeant Tony Reidy that he believed she knew where the accused was at present.

"I have my suspicions but there is insufficient evidence to keep her in custody," Mr Justice Carney said.

A jury had been sworn in last week (Monday 7 July) for the trial of the man who pleaded not guilty to orally raping the woman in Galway on 28 November 2005 and the hearing was due to start last Friday, 11 July.

He was remanded on continuing bail for the rape trial but was then arrested at the door of the court-room in the Round Hall of the Four Courts on foot of a European arrest warrant for an alleged offence in Lithuania and taken away in handcuffs.

The man was later released on bail by the High Court pending hearing of the extradition matter but his defence counsel in the rape case, Ms Isobel Kennedy SC (with Mr Michael Bowman BL), complained to Mr Justice Carney that jury members might have observed his public arrest and handcuffing in the Round Hall.

Prosecuting counsel, Mr Michael Durack SC (with Ms Caroline Biggs BL), said that the gardaí attached to the Four Courts had ensured that the jurors who were sworn in for the trial had been sequestered in the jury room out of sight of the arrest until the man was taken away to the Bridewell Garda Station.

Mr Justice Carney agreed that in the interests of safety he would discharge the jury when it came to court on Friday and have a new jury sworn in on Monday, but when the accused failed to appear he issued bench warrants for the arrest of the man and his partner.

Det Sgt Reidy told the court on Monday that he arrested the woman on Sunday on foot of this warrant and she was held overnight in Mill Street Garda Station before being brought to the court.

He said he found the accused's car "secluded away" from public view about 50 metres from his home in Galway and she had arrived at her house within 90 seconds of him calling her on the phone, claiming she was at the shops but that no shops existed that close to the house.