Attack a new low

Earlier this week the appalling details of the rape and murder of Jill Meagher reminded us of how very inhumane humans can be. We might have taken comfort in the idea that such a horrendous crime would never happen here.

That belief has been at least challenged if not utterly confounded by the reports that a young woman with learning difficulties was the victim of a savage sexual assault in Dublin.

The woman, who is in her mid- 20s, was jogging with her mother on the South Circular Road on Wednesday afternoon when they became separated.

In a scene from one of the more brutal and violent films the woman was dragged from the street and brutally assaulted. It is difficult to understand how someone can be so very depraved. This crime indeed seems a new low.