Teens plead guilty to vicious gang rape
Four teenagers raped a Limerick woman after locking her partner in the boot of a car and attacking them both with golf clubs, a court heard today.
The four boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to rape, false imprisonment and assault causing harm at a sentence hearing before Dublin’s Central Criminal Court.
Michael O’Higgins SC, prosecuting, told the court that the attack occurred at Cratloe Woods, a beauty spot six miles outside Limerick, at around 3am on January 23 this year.
The boys, aged 14, 15, 15 and 16, at the time, stole a car and a set of golf clubs and broke into two national schools before heading to the woods.
The victims, a couple in their 30s, had driven down to the secluded spot 15 minutes earlier.
Mr O’Higgins said that after blocking in the couple’s car, preventing them from escaping, the gang demanded the man hand over his keys and wallet, threatening to stab him if he did not.
“His partner was ordered out of the car and at this stage things turned nasty,” he said.
She was struck so hard with a golf club it almost knocked her over, before three boys pushed her up against the bonnet of the car, he said. All four accused then raped her.
The woman’s partner was told that if he did not get into the car boot both of them would be killed.
Superintendent John Kerin, in charge of the case, told the court: “He could hear them attacking her.
"He could hear them shouting ‘My turn next, my turn next,’ and could hear them laughing.”
Eventually, he forced his way out of the car and dragged one of the group off his partner. After fighting them off, he flagged down a motorist on a nearby road.
The four accused all fled to a nearby farmhouse where one called the gardaí and claimed he himself had been attacked, the court heard. The entire incident lasted around an hour.
As the details of the night emerged, two of the four boys sat holding their heads in their hands.
