Gardai in Rathcoole, Co Dublin, are investigating a sexual assault on a nine yearold girl last Sunday evening. The girl, who was taken to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin after the attack, was yesterday back at home with her parents on the Brookfield estate in Tallaght.
At about 8 p.m. on Sunday the child had been playing on waste ground off Fortunestown Lane in Tallaght with her brother and two friends when a man believed to be in his 20s approached. The man took the girl's hand, told her he was taking her home and then sexually assaulted her. The girl ran back to her home and was brought to hospital.
A Garda spokesman said that the attack was not a vicious one and they had no suspect. A search of the area was conducted after the assault and the Garda helicopter was called out.
The attacker is described as being 5 feet 10 inches with a freckled face and brown hair. He was wearing a red T-shirt, a blue jacket with white lettering on it and white runners.
Parents on the Brookfield estate yesterday kept a close watch on their children. Mothers hovered in doorways warning children not to go too far away.
The estate is situated at the Tallaght end of Fortunestown Lane and the waste ground where the incident took place spreads out between the City West business park and Roadstone to the rear.
One entrance to the waste ground is a dusty, well-worn path beside a wrought-iron fence, where children slip in to play on a daily basis. Yesterday, children played football, walked their dogs and cycled, oblivious to the attack on the nine-year-old girl.
"A lot of people are up in arms about this attack. Now the kids can't go out and play", said Ms Ellen Hoare, who works in Leo's shop on the estate. "Mothers are very annoyed and afraid to let the kids out, and there's a hell of a lot of kids around here. There used to be a lot of drug-dealing on the waste ground, but now that's cleared up and the kids play there."
Three women stood talking at a cul-de-sac at the back of the estate. "I'm only after finding out what happened", said Ms Edwina Walsh. "I've got two twin girls of seven years and a boy of 11 and I've just told them unfortunately they're not allowed out of the cul-de-sac from now on. We're on the alert if any stranger comes in here."
Another woman said that the waste ground was an ideal place for perverts. "By the time the child would run away from an attacker, he'd be well gone. When the good weather comes, the kids just wander over there. I've seen kids as young as two playing there."
Ms Esther O'Reilly said that she had warned her seven-year-old daughter and her eight-year-old son that they were not allowed on to the waste ground any more. "It's a shame for the kids, with the good weather and the school holidays coming", she said.