Garda seek help in search for rapist of Dublin widow (87)

GARDAI searching for the rapist of an 87 year old widow in Phibsboro, north Dublin, say they have no obvious suspect

GARDAI searching for the rapist of an 87 year old widow in Phibsboro, north Dublin, say they have no obvious suspect. Detectives will today examine the list of known sex offenders in the area following detailed house to house inquiries yesterday.

The woman, who lives alone in Shandon Park, woke at around 2 a.m. yesterday to find the attacker lying on top of her in her bed. He covered her mouth and nose during the attack. He had broken into the end of terrace house through the glass and metal back door.

Gardai said the woman believed the man wanted money because he ransacked the kitchen and bedroom. He also broke a glass door leading to the living room with two bricks, but gardai say they do not believe he stole anything.

The woman went to neighbours next door following the attack and was brought by ambulance to the Mater Hospital. She was released yesterday afternoon and stayed with relatives last night.

READ MORE

A Garda spokesman said she was in a "very upset and distraught condition after the whole episode." She had several minor cuts on the left side of her face. She was unable to give a description of her attacker as it was dark.

Garda technical staff examined the house yesterday. Detectives are appealing for anyone who may have seen the rapist, who was wearing a woollen hat and gloves, to contact them at Mountjoy Garda station.

They are also looking for taxi drivers who may have picked up a fare in the area after 2 a.m.

A Garda spokesman said the attack was "very, very serious". The investigation was "wide open at the moment", he said, and there was no obvious suspect.

A local Fianna Fail councillor, Dr Dermot Fitzpatrick, said the "mindlessness" of the attack made it very frightening. "It defies belief. Who in the name of God would break in and race upstairs and do that to an elderly woman? I think they must have been drug crazed," he said. A local Fine Gael councillor, Mr John Kearney, said it was "shocking that old people in this day and age are not safe in their own homes."

The director of the Rape Crisis Centre, Ms Olive Braiden, said the attack "blows away all the myths that are still there that only young women who, by their dress or behaviour or by being out at night on their own, are the only people who are raped.

"There are still countless people saying women shouldn't go out unescorted, that they should lock the doors of their cars and things like that, which they already do, and here we have this old lady in her home which should be the safest place for her and someone can break in and rape her."

Ms Braiden said male children had to be educated to prevent them growing up to be murderers or rapists.