Three released in gang attack and rape probe

Three men arrested after a woman was raped during a vicious gang attack were today released from garda custody.

Two other suspects are still being held over the assault on two young couples at a popular lovers’ lane in the ground of a stately home.

The five were arrested in connection with a brutal attack in the Townley Hall estate on the banks of the river Boyne, near Drogheda, in the early hours of yesterday morning.

A garda spokesman said a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions in respect of the three who were released without charge.

The period of detention was extended for the fourth man, while the fifth is being detained due to an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

Townley Hall is a former stately pile, opposite the well-known Battle of the Boyne site, now a popular beauty spot about 1.5 miles off the M1 outside Drogheda.

The two couples, two men and two women aged in their twenties and from Drogheda, were in the same car when they were approached by the gang at around 4am.

It is alleged that a fight broke out, involving iron bars and sticks, and that one of the women was dragged away from the car by two of the mob into a wooded area, where she was raped.

She was taken to a sexual assault unit in a Dublin hospital for medical treatment, while the other three victims were treated at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.

Suspicious medical staff there called gardaí when four young men arrived at the hospital looking for treatment for minor injuries.

The four eastern European men – one aged 17 and the other three aged 18 – were arrested at the hospital, while a 22-year-old man was later arrested in the town.