Garda probe after girls on run from centre raped
The two 16-year-old residents say they were raped after leaving the Southern Health Board-run Gleann Álainn special care unit in Glanmire, Co Cork. In January this year, a 15-year-old girl told gardaí she was raped by a man in a Cork City centre flat when she was on the run from the centre. The teenagers are not sent to the unit for crime, but because of their difficult behaviour.
Gardaí have questioned a teenage boy after an incident last Sunday week, when one of the girls said he raped her in a wooded area near a funfair a few miles from Gleann Álainn. She had cycled away from her female carer during an outing and met the boy, who is believed to be younger than her and from the northside of Cork City.
On July 10, a girl who had been reported missing from the unit took a lift back there from the city with a middle-aged man. She has told gardaí that he raped her during the journey to the centre, which houses seven girls at a time. Investigating gardaí have since questioned the man, from Cork City. They are treating both claims very seriously and files are being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Gardaí said they were concerned about the level of security at the institution, and the fact that a number of girls were absconding while out on day trips with care workers. One senior Garda source said: “These incidents are very regular and tie up a considerable amount of manpower.”
The SHB said the unit was not a prison, and there is always a risk that a child may run away or abscond: “On the few occasions this happens, the gardaí and the child’s social worker are immediately notified and staff actively engage in looking for the child.
“If, on the child’s return, there are any allegations in relation to any inappropriate activity, the gardaí are immediately notified.”
The health board said all other supports or any treatment required are immediately provided.
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