18 rapes reported in Galway City last year

There was an increase in the number of rapes and sexual assaults reported to Gardaí in Galway City last year, according to new statistics.

A meeting of the City Joint Policing Committee (JPC) heard that there were 18 rapes reported in 2016, an increase of five on the previous year.

Chief Superintendent Tom Curley said that a number of these would be ‘historical’ rapes.

Sexual assaults were also up by six to 27 last year.

Meanwhile, undercover Garda operations saw cases of burglary and theft from people in Galway City slashed in half last year.

The meeting heard there were 71 thefts from the person – such as mobile phones – in 2016, down 44% from 127 the previous year.

Burglaries were down from 435 in 2015 to 237 in 2016, a reduction of 46%.

Chief Supt Curley said this was down to undercover police work.

As a whole, there were 6,724 crimes reported in Galway City in 2016 – down 16% on the 7,961 in 2015, the meeting heard.

Thefts from cars and vans were down 8% from 145 to 133, while thefts from shops were down 7% from 571 to 529.

Other property crime was down 20% from 289 to 231, the meeting heard.

Meanwhile, there was a 5% increase in public order offences – such as drunkenness – which were up from 652 in 2015 to 683 last year.

There was a 35% drop in the number of assaults causing harm, from 89 to 58, while minor assaults were down 8% from 217 to 200.

For domestic incidents, breaches of barring order, safety orders and protection orders were up 46% from 37 to 54, while there was a 4% increase in cases where no offence was disclosed (where no official complaint is made) from 176 to 183.