Sixteen cases of gang rape were referred to the sexual assault unit at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin last year, according to a report in today's Irish Medical Times.
The figures, included in the hospital's annual report, show that more than 250 people attended the unit last year, an average of five a week. Of these 240 were classified as "acute assaults" and almost nine out of 10 of these cases had been referred to gardai.
The gang rape cases involved between two and four assailants. It is the first time the hospital has published gang rape figures.
Most of the 253 people treated at the unit were seen within 72 hours of the rape. Almost 20 of the victims were men or boys and a number of people were seen on two separate occasions, having been raped twice in 1997. The unit also saw 13 women and men working as prostitutes who had been raped. The report also shows that one in 10 female rape victims in 1997 was under 16 years old. Twenty-one people who had been raped tested positive for sexually-transmitted disease after the rape occurred. Three women who attended for treatment after the rape were already pregnant.
Garda figures for last year show reported rapes, up 42 per cent on 1996. The total number of reported sex offences was up 21 per cent and sexual assaults were up 9 per cent.
Research commissioned by the Garda Commissioner found that some of the increase could be attributed to a greater willingness of people to report offences. A proportion of the offences reported in 1997 related to assaults that had taken place in the past.
