The officer is alleged to have committed a serious sexual assault when he was a teenage minor
Garda headquarters suspended the officer, who is based elsewhere in the capital, after his arrest.(Image: PA Archive/PA Images)
A young garda has been arrested – after he was accused of serious sexual assault as a teenager.
The Irish Mirror has also learned that the officer has now been suspended as part of the probe, which stretches back almost a decade.
We have confirmed that the officer, who is based in the Dublin region, was suspended following his arrest at the start of December.
The officer has fewer than five years’ service. Sources have told us the alleged serious sexual assault happened almost 10 years before he joined the Garda.
“This relates to an incident when both he and the injured party were juveniles,” a source told us.
Sources told us the complainant came forward to officers in the last 12 months – and that was only when they learned that the suspect had joined the force.
A complaint was made to a Garda Divisional Protective Services Unit in the Eastern Region – which is outside the area where the Dublin-based officer is stationed.
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That unit carried out an investigation into the complainant’s allegation – and arrested the officer in early December.
He was questioned in a Garda station in south Dublin for several hours, before being released without charge.
That investigation is ongoing – but the officer was then suspended.
Sources say it is likely to be several months before the officer learns if he is to be charged – or has his suspension lifted.
Gardai confirmed to us that a member of the force has been suspended as part of an investigation.
The force said in a statement: “A male was arrested in the Dublin Region in early December in connection with an alleged assault investigation being carried out by Gardaí in the Garda Eastern Region.
“A member of An Garda Síochána in the Garda Dublin Region has been suspended in connection with this investigation.”
News of the investigation came as it emerged that some 35 gardai had been suspended up to the start of December – a figure that does not include this officer.
Some 11 suspensions were lifted in the same period, but a total of 104 officers remain suspended in cases going back as far as 2019.
That includes 14 suspended for alleged sexual assault or misconduct. Another 16 are suspended for allegedly drink or drugs driving. There are nine officers suspended over allegations of corruption or associating with criminals. The same number are suspended for alleged assault. And 11 are suspended for alleged domestic violence or coercive control.
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