Gardai in Cork say almost 1,000 people have been interviewed in connection with the rape of an eight-year-old girl in the city on April 25th. The girl was playing with her sister in the Gardiner's Hill area between 6.20 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. when a young man approached them and offered them ice cream.
The contact was made during a heavy shower of rain and the man asked the girls to take shelter with him. Both of them ran away but he followed them and dragged the eight-year-old onto waste ground in the St Luke's area, where he viciously raped her.
Passers-by found the girl and alerted her parents and the Garda.
According to Supt P.J. Brennan, who is leading the investigation, all the available scientific units attached to the Garda have been involved in the case, which has taken on the same intensity as a murder hunt.
However, Supt Brennan said yesterday that media speculation about DNA samples being taken from people on a voluntary basis was unhelpful to the investigation and would have the effect of preventing other people from coming forward.
"The media have been quite helpful in our investigation but comments in some quarters about issues like DNA sampling are doing us no good. We would much rather if this type of material did not appear."
Supt Brennan said that following the Crimeline programme on RTE some days ago, there had been "a magnificent response" from the public. Since the attack on the child, some 450 houses had been visited and interviews were continuing.
Asked about the condition of the girl now, he said experts in nursing and counselling had given the opinion that her age would help to see her through. "This is what we hope, this is what we are being told."