Gardaí investigating a sexual assault on a woman on the outskirts of Cork city over the weekend last night released without charge a third person arrested for questioning about the attack.
The 15-year-old youth had been arrested at around 9am yesterday in the Gurranebraher area of Cork city for questioning about the sexual attack on a woman in her early 30s in the Glanmire area
The juvenile was arrested under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and brought to Cobh Garda Station where he was questioned for ten hours before being released without charge at around 7pm.
The arrest followed the arrest early on Sunday morning of an 18-year-old youth and a 16-year-old juvenile when gardaí stopped a car belonging to the victim of the attack on Gerald Griffin St on the northside of Cork city.
The two were brought to Togher Garda Station where they were questioned for up to 18 hours about the sex attack on the woman before being released without charge at midnight on Sunday.
Gardaí also interviewed and took a witness statement from an 11-year-old boy who was also in the stolen car when it was stopped by Gardaí on Gerald Griffin Street at around 6am.
The sexual assault happened when the woman was leaving a party in the Glanmire area sometime after 2am on Sunday morning and she was offered a lift by four males in a van.
The woman accepted the offer and got into the van with the males some of whom demanded sex and attempted to rape her at a location in the Glanmire area.
Following the sex attack, the males drove the woman to her home outside Cork city where they took her car keys from her handbag and made off in her car before she contacted the gardaí.
Officers from Togher Garda Station called to the woman's home and brought her to the Sexual Assault Unit at the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital where she was medically examined.
Both the woman's stolen car and the van driven by her attackers were taken by gardaí for a technical examination which officers hope will provide them with forensic evidence.
Following the questioning and release without charge of three suspects in the case, gardai will now prepare a file on the matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
