AAP
A serial "exhibitionist" accused of performing a lewd act in front of two young girls on a Sydney ferry has been granted bail.
During that time he must live with this 80-year-old mother, who is required to accompany him in public.
Ralph Glen Ireland, 61, was first convicted of exposing himself in 1973 and has been convicted of 18 similar offences over the past 40 years, a court was told on Tuesday.
He is accused of masturbating in front of two sisters, aged six and eight, on the 8am (AEST) ferry from Manly to Circular Quay on Sunday, October 21.
Crown prosecutor Thomas Spohr opposed bail, saying Ireland was on a bond for a previous offence and was attending therapy for his "exhibitionism" when the October incident allegedly occurred.
After the incident, he allegedly changed his clothes before police found him in an engineering section of the vessel, the crown said.
"That was essentially a forensic counter-measure to avoid being detected," Mr Spohr told Sydney's Central Local Court.
He also said Ireland suffered from a "psychological compulsion", was likely to re-offend if released and faced a jail term if convicted.
Ireland's lawyer, Michael Foley, said his client had never spent more than two days in custody before his October arrest.
"There's a wider need for him to be on bail," Mr Foley said, referring to Ireland's ailing business, Flame Coatings Pty Ltd, a company that provides coatings for industrial surfaces.
The court heard the Manly resident travels by ferry on weekdays on his way to his business at Moorebank, in Sydney's west.
He had previously lost his driver's licence because of issues with alcohol.
The magistrate granted bail on the condition that he move into the nearby Narrabeen home of his 80-year-old mother Edith Ireland.
She must accompany him in public and he must not associate with any children under the age of 16.
His matter will come before the Downing Centre on Thursday.
Ireland would plead guilty, Mr Foley said, if the court rejected his intended application to be dealt with under the Mental Health (Forensics Provision) Act.
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