Separate investigations are being carried out by the Garda and the prison authorities into an alleged attack on a nun by a convicted rapist at Dublin's Wheatfield Prison last week.
The nun - a chaplain at the prison - was visiting the prisoner's cell at the time of the alleged incident on October 6th. The allegation is understood to involve threatening behaviour by the prisoner, including the use of a toothbrush with a razor-blade attached. It is not a rape allegation, according to sources.
The prisoner, Anthony Cawley, is serving an eight-year sentence for the rape of a fellow prisoner, then in Arbour Hill, consecutive to a 20-year sentence imposed in 1987 for the rape and robbery of a model. The first sentence was reduced on appeal to 16 years and the Central Criminal Court ruled that the eight-year sentence would begin last May.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, told the Dail last night that investigations were being carried out by the Garda and by the governor of Wheatfield, Mr John O'Sullivan. He said it was a "very disturbing" incident and said he was being briefed on developments by the director general of the Prison Service, Mr Sean Aylward.
As a chaplain, the nun would have seen Cawley on a number of occasions. It is understood that chaplains are encouraged not to visit prisoners alone, but do so as a matter of course. A prison officer remains outside the cell.
Cawley is one of 360 prisoners at Wheatfield, 100 of whom are sex offenders.
