A 23-year-old Greek man has been arrested, accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a 20-year-old Irish woman in Rhodes.
According to reports, the man, who has not been named, allegedly placed a pill in her drink before bringing her to a beach where she was sexually abused. He has also been accused of theft of the woman's mobile phone and bag which went missing during the ordeal.
Greek City Times reports that the young woman was in the country on holiday when she and her friends headed out to a bar in Faliraki, a village and seaside resort in Rhodes.
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Despite not drinking much alcohol, she began to feel intense dizziness and weakness in the early hours of Tuesday morning, at around 1.45am and for the next five hours experienced memory loss. However, she remembered she had left with a man she did not know who may have spiked her drink.
Testifying to a psychologist, the woman stated she awoke on a beach not wearing underwear. She also had indications that her nose had received blows and further markings of abuse on her anus. Some of her belongings were also missing.
The 20-year-old woman subsequently underwent a forensic examination, which confirmed she had been sexually assaulted, with a case then being filed against an unknown person for alleged rape and theft.
Through the use of visual material from shop cameras in Faliraki Square, police were able to identify the man, who was arrested on Wednesday morning. The 23-year-old is currently in custody.
Drink-spiking is a growing problem in both Ireland and abroad. According to figures released by An Garda Siochana to Sinn Féin's Mark Ward earlier this year, there were 106 recorded incidents of spiking in Ireland throughout 2022.
In 2021 there were just 62 reported incidents and 12 such incidents in 2020.
