Mum raped in broad daylight
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Thursday March 11 2010
A MOTHER on her way to pick up her child from school was attacked and raped in the centre of Kanturk in the middle of the day this week.
In an incident that has shocked and frightened the local community, the young woman had been jogging in the town park but diverted to the public toilet at the carpark on Church Street, just in front of the church and close to the courthouse, on her way to picking up her child on Tuesday afternoon.
It's understood that a man was waiting in the toilet block and attacked the woman and raped her before fleeing the scene which is just over 100 yards from the centre of Kanturk town and close to the town park and two schools.
The woman managed to make her way from the toilets back on to the street where she stopped a passerby who rang gardai and officers from the Kanturk Garda station were quickly on the scene.
The woman was badly traumatised by the ordeal but was able to give gardai a description of her assailant as being in his 30s and wearing dark clothing and a dark cap before she was brought to Sexual Assault Unit at the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital in Cork.
Gardai cordoned off the toilet and the surrounding area and a garda forensic expert carried out a technical examination of the scene while officers also began examining CCTV footage from premises around the town in a bid to try and identify the culprit.
Officers also carried out door to door inquiries in the town centre to try and establish if anyone had seen any suspicous activity while they were also trying to establish how the man made his getaway.
News of the incident shocked residents of Kanturk as the news quickly spread and teachers at the nearby Scoil Mhuire school instructed children not to leave the school building unless they were being collected by a parent or relative.
Locals reported a sense of terror in the town last Tuesday with fears that there was a rapist at large.
Late on Tuesday night Gardai arrested a Polish man in his 30s in Kanturk under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows for detention of up to 24 hours and he was brought to Kanturk Garda Station where he was questioned about the incident.
At time of going to press gardai were still questioning the suspect.
