A boy convicted for his part in a gang rape when on home leave from an industrial school faces questioning about a sexual assault on a woman by three males at Christmas when he was again on home leave.
The boy was the subject of controversy in 1996. When staff at Trinity House brought him to the cinema a few days after his conviction for attempted rape, he absconded.
In 1994 the boy, from Athlone, Co Westmeath, was sentenced to one year in St Laurence's Industrial School in Finglas for criminal damage, robbery, assault and burglary.
Less than four weeks later he was sent home on leave. At his subsequent trial the court heard he told gardai that he went to a youth disco before meeting his sister, cousin and two other boys.
The rape victim, a mother of three, had asked for directions and was staggering from drink. He said both he and his cousin took the woman by the hands and walked her into a field with the intention of "having a go at her".
He said they ripped off her clothes as she screamed. His sister held the woman down while his cousin and the other two boys raped her. The accused said he also tried unsuccessfully to have intercourse with the victim. He said the woman screamed and begged them to stop but the group, including his sister, laughed at her. As they left, the woman was on the ground groaning in pain, his statement added.
The victim, who broke down in the witness box, said the boy had repeatedly taunted her saying: "You like that, don't you?"
The boy was convicted of attempting to rape the woman, of sexual assault and of assault causing her actual bodily harm.
Within days of his conviction, staff at Trinity House, a Department of Education institution, allowed him to go to the cinema with two other boys, supervised by a single staff member. He absconded and was at large for some days.
It is understood that the woman he was convicted of attempting to rape is in the process of taking legal action against the State.
The boy, now aged 17, was allowed home at Christmas on leave. While he was on leave, a woman was dragged off the main street in Athlone and sexually assaulted by three males. Two men have been questioned by gardai.
The boy, who returned to Trinity House after his leave, is expected to be interviewed shortly.