Sexual attacks - Spate of rapes paints ugly picture

HORRIFIC reports of rape, one in Cork city over the weekend, another in woodlands in Co Clare last Friday and a third in a Dublin suburb, portray a highly disturbing picture of the changing face of Ireland.

What people find particularly shocking about the appalling incidents is the fact that teenage gangs were alleged to have carried out these assaults on a 13-year-old girl, a 32-year-old woman and on a teenager in Dublin.

The random occurrence of the attacks, ranging from city streets to the remote countryside, will fuel public fears that casual violence and downright thuggery are on the increase in communities up and down the country.