Paedophile ring lured teen boy on gay website
Wednesday February 28 2007
GARDAI probing a suspected paedophile ring believe at least six men contacted their 14-year-old victim through a gay website.
Last night sources said as many as 10 men could be involved.
Some of the suspects are accused of having sex with the 14-year-old boy at different houses in the greater Dublin area over the past three months.
Others are facing questioning over sending sexually explicit text messages to the boy.
The victim of the attacks is now 15.
He was 14 when contacted by a number of men after he surfed the internet shortly before Christmas. A probationary garda has been suspended until May pending further inquiries by detectives on his role, if any, in the alleged assaults. Gardai may make further arrests.
Two men, a retired truck driver and a language lecturer, have already been questioned by gardai about the attacks on the 14-year-old Dubliner.
A file is currently being prepared for the DPP.
Senior garda officers indicated last night that up to six men were currently at the centre of their investigation but said the number may increase as their inquiries widen.
Officers are investigating if other children are involved but have no evidence of other victims at the moment.
Gardai have also established that some of the men believed to have been involved already knew each other but some may also have been operating alone.
They are investigating the possibility that the boy was identified as being vulnerable to paedophiles and that his name and number was then passed on to other men, creating a chid-sex ring.
"There are different levels of inquiries being carried out," one officer said. "Some of these men are accused of sexually assaulting the boy while others are alleged to have sent text messages to him."
The shocking events first came to light when the boy's mother found lewd texts on his mobile phone, questioned him, and made a formal complaint to gardai.
The boy made a detailed statement to detectives in Coolock.
It is understood he outlined a number of incidents of rape and sexual abuse.
He also took the detectives to a number of places in north Dublin, including car parks, where he says the abuse took place.
Investigating gardai then identified a number of men who appeared to have a sexual interest in the boy.
Two men in their forties were arrested at their homes in north Dublin and Kildare, and questioned by detectives at Swords garda station. One of these men is a language teacher, the other is a truck driver.
They were questioned for up to 12 hours under section 4 of the Offences Against the State Act.
A 21-year-old probationer garda serving in a south Dublin station, and from the Leinster region, turned up voluntarily at Tallaght garda station (not where he is based) on Friday. He was cautioned but not arrested, and detectives questioned him about his relationship with the boy.
The probationer is suspected of sending explicit text messages to the boy. He was officially suspended from duty on Monday until some time in May to allow further inquiries.
A member of the force has been appointed to liaise with the boy's family while the inquiries are going on.
The boy is still attending school and is understood to come from a stable family. He has a number of brothers and sisters.
Gardai are also examining the internet website.
Detectives from Coolock, Swords and the Garda Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit are involved in the investigation.
Officers are confident a number of men will be brought before the courts. Charges of sexual abuse and procurement are expected.
Yesterday Taoiseach Bertie Ahern described the case as a "very disturbing and worrying matter".
The children's charity CARI said paedophile rings are not uncommon here. The charity revealed that calls to its helpline concerning allegations of abuse by a number of people have increased in the past year.
Its chief executive Mary Flaherty said it had been highlighting the issue of paedophile rings in its annual reports for the past few years.
She added that it had also received information from children about multiple groomers and various grooming processes used.
It advised parents to talk to their children on how to cope if approached by a stranger or solicited to do something that feels wrong by someone they know.
While the existence of paedophile rings here has only recently come to light, their existence in other European countries has led to a number of huge court trials and media coverage.
Chief among them was the 2004 trial of Belgian paedophile Marc Dutroux.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny suggested that mobile phone companies should be contacted to see if certain words or combinations of words could be blocked from text messages, as was done with computers in schools.
He said this case was the "worst nightmare" for parents.
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