A 16-year-old Burundian girl has been taken into care in Drogheda, Co Louth, after she was found wandering the streets of the town in a distressed state.
Gardaí say they are investigating allegations that the girl was held captive in a local house and abused in recent weeks.
"We're trying to substantiate what happened, but it's early days yet," a spokeswoman said yesterday.
The teenager told gardaí she escaped from the house in the early hours of the morning when a man, who was with her in the locked room, fell asleep while drunk. She managed to find a key and unlock the door.
After being found in the town centre she was taken to Drogheda Garda station. She was then brought to the sexual assault unit at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, where she underwent medical tests and some treatment.
It is alleged that the girl was taken from her home village in east Africa at the age of 12, and then inducted into the sex industry in different countries before being moved to Ireland last month.
She says her family got caught up in the violence in Burundi, where her father was murdered and her mother doused herself with fuel and burnt to death.
After two brothers joined a local militia, she says she was taken from her village and sold to a man as a sex slave.
The teenager says she has no idea of what countries or cities she was in. However, she recollects being smuggled through at least two airports before arriving in Ireland.
A spokeswoman for the Health Services Executive northeastern area was unable to confirm the details of the case.
