Two teenagers arrested in gang rape investigation

Gardaí have arrested two teenagers following horrific claims by a girl that she was gang-raped twice in one day at different locations on the Cork-Limerick border.

Males aged 18 and 17 were arrested at different addresses in Charleville, Co Cork, at around 9am yesterday.

The older teenager was taken for questioning to Mallow Garda Station in Co Cork, while the younger one was being detained at Bruff Garda Station in Co Limerick.

They were being detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and can be questioned for up to 24 hours.

A 17-year-old girl claimed that on Feb 1 last she had been raped by three teenagers.

She told gardaí that first she had been attacked by the three, who were known to her, two miles north of Charleville, just within the Limerick border, at a place known locally as St Coleman’s Well.

She told gardaí that one of the three teenagers drove the car she was in to the area.

She claimed once there she was gang-raped by all of them.

The alleged victim told gardaí that she was then driven back across the Cork border to Ballyhea, south of Charleville, where she alleged that she was again raped near an old graveyard.

Following that she was driven back to Charleville where she was dumped out of the car.

The victim made an official complaint to gardaí a few days later.

She was said to have been traumatised and was treated by HSE services.

Gardaí later seized a number of items, which may be used as potential evidence in a criminal investigation, during searches in Kilmallock, Co Limerick, and Charleville.

Since then, detectives and uniformed gardaí from Bruff and Charleville have been working on the case and these are the first arrests made in connection with the inquiry.