Man arrested over alleged rape of woman aged 75
GARDAÍ have arrested a 49-year-old man over the alleged rape of a 75-year-old woman last week.
It is alleged the man lured the woman into his car under false pretences outside the public library in Ennis, Co. Clare, at around 11.30am on Thursday.
It is further claimed that he then brought the woman in his vehicle to a car park behind Ennis Swimming Pool and Leisure Centre, about 1km away, where the alleged rape took place.
The Co. Mayo man stopped his car at Ennis General Hospital and St Joseph’s Hospital before reaching the car park with the woman, it is claimed.
The alert was raised by the woman later on Thursday. Gardaí were able to identify the man’s car through CCTV footage at the McDonald’s roundabout in Ennis, just 100 metres from the leisure centre.
Chief Superintendent John Kerin, of the Clare Garda Division, confirmed a male was arrested and brought to a Garda station in Co. Mayo for questioning.
The man was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. Chief Supt Kerin confirmed the man was released without charge at lunchtime on Saturday and that a file will be sent to the DPP.
He said gardaí are ‘not looking for anyone else in connection with the investigation’, and declined to comment on the circumstances around the alleged rape, for operational reasons.
On hearing details concerning the alleged rape, Ennis-based Fine Gael councillor Mary Howard – chairperson of the Clare Joint Policing Committee – said yesterday: ‘I am genuinely shocked to my core to hear about this.
‘I am heartbroken for the woman that something like this would happen to her at this stage of her life. I hope that she is getting all the support from the various services at this time.’
Cllr Howard added: ‘What happened to this totally unsuspecting older lady was heinous and it is just unconscionable that someone would lure an elderly woman and carry out this horrendous crime against her... I’m devastated that someone would do this to an elderly lady – it is not a society that I want to be part of.’