Gardaí are hunting a beast who raped a teenage girl hours after the end of the Rose of Tralee festival.
The victim, who is just 17, was attacked in the centre of the Co Kerry town in the early hours of yesterday.
The attack happened in the Tralee Town Park area – around 10 minutes from the Kerry Sports Campus where the Rose of Tralee took place. The area is believed to be a wooded part of the park and was close to where thousands of people had earlier spent the night socialising as part of the famous Midnight Madness - the annual celebration of the festival.
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The area of the attack was sealed off all day yesterday as gardai probed the assault – but there had been no arrests as of last night. Gardai would only confirm last night that officers were investigating an assault in the area – but the Irish Mirror has established that the victim suffered a serious sexual attack.
A spokesman said last night: “Gardai are investigating an alleged assault that is reported to have occurred on Wednesday in Tralee Town Park, Tralee. Investigations are ongoing into this matter.”
Gardai were last night trawling for CCTV evidence and other clues and the victim, whose injuries were not life threatening, was also receiving treatment in a sexual assault treatment unit. One line of inquiry is that the teenager was targeted as she was walking home.
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