Gardai have seized phones connected to five suspects in the horrific rape of a 14-year-old girl.

The development comes as gardai in Tallaght continue a major investigation into the shocking incident, which happened in broad daylight on Monday evening of last week.

A senior source explained that the seized phones would now be forensically analysed by officers. However, the vicious attack is not believed to have been recorded on the devices.

"Deleted messages and photos can still be retrieved, and the analysis of the phones could play a big part in the investigation," a source said.

It is understood that the male suspects in the disturbing case are aged between 14 and 17 and have been interviewed, but there has been no arrests.

The rape of the girl happened shortly after 4pm on Monday, January 24, in a green space close to the Ashgrove apartments, opposite St Mark's GAA club on the Cookstown Road in the Springfield area of Tallaght.

The traumatised victim has given a detailed statement to a specialist child interviewer, and officers are following a definite line of inquiry in the case.

Victim

Before making her statement, the teenage victim was taken to the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit in the Rotunda Hospital.

Gardai said there was no link between the rape and the sexual assault of two other teenagers in the locality around an hour later.

It was reported to officers that two sisters, who are aged 18 and 19, were attacked by a group of males as they walked through Maplewood, which is also in Springfield, at 5.30pm on the same day.

The two young women said that they think the boys were aged between 12 and 16 years old and that two of them exposed themselves during the attack, including the youngest- looking boy.

There also have been no arrests in that case, but the victim's mother said in a newspaper interview at the weekend that the sisters are "very shaken" after the assault and in shock.

Both her daughters would be able to identify the boys who carried out the assaults, who were described to gardai as of Eastern European origin.

Meanwhile, a community group has begun to conduct a series of patrols in Tallaght following the shocking attacks.

Assaults

The group, who are part of the Padraig Pearse 1916 Society, announced earlier this week that they would be starting patrols around the Springfield area because of the sexual assaults.

The patrols have since occurred on a nightly basis, with several members patrolling the area from 7.30pm in a bid to prevent further incidents.

Herald