Two men being held in connection with violent sex attacks

TWO men were being questioned by gardaí in Cork last night about vicious assaults on two women within hours of each other before Christmas.

The men, in their 20s, were arrested yesterday for questioning in connection with the sexual assault of a young woman in the grounds of a city church, and an aggravated assault on another woman earlier near a city hospital on December 3 last.

Detectives swooped on two addresses in Mallow and Kanturk in north Cork early yesterday morning.

The men were arrested and detained under the provisions of section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.

They were brought to Togher and the Bridewell Garda Stations in Cork city for questioning about the attacks.

They can be held for up to 24 hours before being released or charged.

Detectives searched the two houses and a number of items were removed for forensic examination.

The two women were attacked in Cork city in the space of 90 minutes in the early hours of Saturday, December 3 last.

The first woman was assaulted by two men at around 1.30am near the Mercy University Hospital. A man came upon the scene and the attackers fled on foot.

Then a second woman, who is in her 30s, was attacked by two men in the Dennehy’s Cross area in the western suburbs at around 3am.

It is understood the woman, who had walked from the city centre, was struck with a bottle before being sexually assaulted just inside the Wilton Road entrance to the grounds of the Church of the Holy Spirit. She managed to escape and raise the alarm as her attackers fled in the Model Farm Road direction.

A Garda spokesman said CCTV footage, which was examined as part of an extensive investigation into the assaults, played a “pivotal role” in the identification of the two suspects.