Suspended gardaí are investigated in two separate rape cases

Two gardaí, both on suspension, are being investigated on suspicion of raping women in separate incidents.

The Director of Public Prosecutions will shortly decide if a garda based in the west is to be charged with the rape of a teenage girl at the station where he was based in 2010.

The garda, who is married with children, has been on suspension since the allegations came to light last year. He was ordered not to have any contact with the alleged victim.

Investigating detectives, working under the direction of a superintendent from outside the garda’s area, recently completed the file on the case and it is now with the DPP.

The victim alleges she was raped by him three years ago at the garda station and at other locations. She was 18 at the time.

Gardaí had been investigating a separate case in which the young woman complained of being raped by another man. That investigation has since resulted in the prosecution of a man at the Central Criminal Court.

She is believed to have been highly vulnerable when she met the garda, who took a keen interest in her case. But it was only when she spoke to another garda last year that a major investigation was launched.

The garda was arrested late last year and taken to a Midlands station where he was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. He was later released without charge. Detectives are awaiting a decision by the DPP on the extensive file.

Meanwhile, a second investigation into an allegation of rape by a garda based in the Midlands is continuing. The Garda Ombudsman arrested the garda, who is in his 20s, in December after he declined to co-operate with their enquiries.

The rape is alleged to have taken place in 2011 and the garda was interviewed and released without charge after providing a DNA sample.

The officer has been suspended since his arrest.