Claim young boys forced into videoed sex by older children
The victims, believed to be two boys, aged four and five, are believed to have been forced into taking part by boys aged 11 and 12.
A senior Garda source said the victims’ parents reported the incident, which is said to have taken place in Mitchelstown, Co Cork.
The report was made after the children told their parents about the alleged incident, which is said to have happened about four weeks ago.
The HSE has also been informed of the allegations.
On foot of the complaint, specialist gardaí were brought in to interview the two young victims. Their investigation is ongoing.
Neither of the older boys have been interviewed yet, but gardaí seized mobile phones belonging to them.
The offending videos were said to have been deleted before the gardaí seized the phones and they are now trying to see if they can be retrieved.
Gardaí are also checking if any of the offending videos may have been sent to other people.
A Garda source said it was one of the most sickening cases he had ever encountered. He said the investigation was still at a very early stage.
Under current legislation children of 12 years of age and under cannot be prosecuted in the courts. Instead, they will have to be handled by Garda juvenile liaison officers who will monitor their behaviour until the age of 16 years.
Parents have been warned to monitor their children’s phones after an increase in the volume of sexually explicit and abuse messages being sent to mobiles.
In 2004, gardaí launched an investigation after thousands of students were sent a pornographic picture of a schoolgirl.
The pictures of the teenager in a sexually explicit pose, sent by camera phone, were initially believed to have been taken in a Cork suburb. However, following analysis of the crest on the girl’s uniform it is believed she attended a secondary school in the east of the country.
