Man arrested in connection with alleged abduction attempts
The suspect, a Nigerian national, was arrested by gardaí following what they said was an extensive investigation by officers in the Skerries and Balbriggan areas.
Last Friday, gardaí said they were investigating three separate approaches to three teenagers by a suspicious person in the general Skerries area in the last few weeks.
The girls — one aged 15 and two aged 16 — were approached by someone they described as a black man driving a red car.
In each case, the girls refused to get into the man’s car.
The first incident occurred on September 30 when a 15-year-old girl was approached by the man in Skerries.
The other two girls are believed to have been approached on October 13 and November 11.
The suspect was described as having short hair or possibly a shaved head, with a distinctive yellow tooth and driving a small red car.
The three incidents are not thought to be the only reports of attempted abductions in the area in recent weeks, which also included one in the Skerries Rock housing estate.
Earlier last week, the principal at St Patrick’s Senior School in Swords, Michelle Keane, sent out a letter to parents warning them of an attempt to lure a child into a car in the Skerries Rock estate.
These incidents followed serious sex assaults on two young girls aged two and four in nearby Swords last Saturday week. The suspect for that crime is a young white man, thought to have a Dublin accent.
Gardaí yesterday said they had arrested a Nigerian national.
“Garda at Skerries, assisted by the Garda Crime Unit, Balbriggan, investigating a series of alleged attempted child abductions in the general Skerries/North County Dublin area, arrested a 32-year-old man this morning at 7.40am in the Skerries area,” said a garda spokesman.
He said the suspect was detained at Balbriggan Garda Station under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
“He can be detained initially for a period of up to six hours and in certain circumstances for a further period of up to six hours,” said the spokesman.
The spokesman rejected claims by the mother of the 15 year old on RTÉ’s Liveline that it took her three days before she could find a garda in Skerries to report the incident to.
The garda spokesman said: “Contrary to some negative media reporting of these incidents, the gardaí at Skerries commenced an investigation immediately following the reporting of the first such incident.
“Extensive investigation work was carried by a team of gardaí based in Skerries and Balbriggan which resulted in this morning’s arrest.”
