Student’s sex assault ordeal: plea for witnesses

Date Published: 15-Feb-2010

GARDAI have appealed for witnesses to come forward in relation to an alleged sexual assault on a 19-year-old woman in the city last week – the ordeal is alleged to have lasted for about a three hour period.

The woman – a second year student at NUI Galway – had been returning from a function at the Radisson Hotel in the early hours of Thursday morning last when the alleged assault occurred.

She was walking some yards ahead of her partner – who accompanied her at the function in the Radisson Hotel on Wednesday night – when a car is understood to have stopped at the Headford Road/Dyke Road/Bothar na mBan junction between 4 and 4.15am.

The student is understood to have engaged in a brief conversation with the driver of the car before entering the vehicle, apparently with a view to getting a lift home.

However over the next three hours, the woman has alleged that she was sexually assaulted by the man – she eventually managed to raise the alarm three hours later at around 7.15am in the Doughiska area.

Gardai are particularly anxious to make contact with two taxi drivers who were in the vicinity of the Headford Road/Dyke Road junction just before the woman was picked up.

On Thursday last, Gardai arrested a man in the city in relation to the incident before questioning him under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. The man questioned is to face charges of sexual assault – he is understood to be in his mid-20s and is a non-national.

The victim of the alleged assault is understood not to be from Galway but had been staying in the Headford Road area during the course of the college year at NUI Galway.

It is understood that the woman, who received medical attention after the incident, is understood to have made a good recovery since.

Gardai have made contact with a number of witnesses who saw the young woman just before she entered the car near the Dyke Road junction and after she left the vehicle in the Doughiska area.

The woman is described as 5’ 8” tall, of slim build with brown hair. Her dress was ‘green/blue’ in colour.