Gardaí investigate alleged rape of two girls

TWO girls, aged 12 and 13, were allegedly raped and sexually assaulted in Carlow town on Wednesday night.

Gardaí were granted a search warrant late on Wednesday night and subsequently seized clothes belonging to a teenage boy. He has been before the Children’s Court on several occasions on unconnected charges, including drunk and disorderly behaviour, theft and assault.

The gardaí plan to carry out DNA swabs on the clothing to look for forensic matches with the two girls. Detectives hope to question the boy or eliminate him from their enquiries within the coming days.

It is believed the alleged assaults took place within 10 minutes of one another close to a major housing estate in the town.

The 12 and 13-year-old girls are school friends. They were returning from a visit to a local shop on Wednesday when they became separated.

Garda technical experts have sealed off a laneway and a section of waste ground on the Tullow Road in the course of their investigation into the alleged attacks.

It is believed the teenagers were assaulted there at 8.30pm and 8.40pm respectively and gardaí are appealing to anybody who was in the Tullow Road area at that time and noticed anything suspicious to come forward. The detailed investigation at both scenes continued all day yesterday.

The alarm was raised when the mother of one of the alleged victims contacted the gardaí.

The two girls were subsequently interviewed and a special court sitting was arranged so that a youth’s clothes could be forensically examined.

The girls were taken to Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital for medical examination early yesterday morning.

A senior garda involved in the case described the alleged attack as “horrific” and said that officers are following a definite line of enquiry.