GARDAÍ ARE investigating a brutal attack on two young couples at a well known beauty spot in Co Louth early yesterday morning.
All four were assaulted and one of the women was allegedly raped.
Five teenagers have been arrested in connection with the attack.
The couples were in a car just inside the entrance to Townley Hall woods when it appears they were set upon by a group of males.
One Garda source described the incident as “brutal” and said the inside of the car was “covered in blood”.
Another said it “looked like an abbatoir”.
One of the women was pulled from the car and dragged into the woods where she was subjected to a serious sexual assault and was allegedly raped.
The second woman tried to help her but was also attacked and struck in the face. She had a suspected broken jaw.
The mother of one of the two women injured in the attack at the forest park said her daughter suffered a broken jaw, a broken nose and smashed teeth.
The 19-year-old woman was with three friends in the car when it is alleged they were attacked by the gang of young men.
Her parents were woken by a phone call from their daughter at 5am yesterday.
“She was roaring crying on the phone and then a garda came on and said she had been assaulted and hit,” said her mother .
She visited her daughter in the emergency department of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and was shocked to learn she had been struck with what was believed to be a crowbar.
“She has had her jaw broken, her nose broken and a lot of her teeth broken,” she said.
The young woman told her parents the two couples had been out at a Drogheda nightclub and went to the beauty spot afterwards.
She said they had been dragged from the car by a gang of men who beat them up.
Her friend had called for help as she was being attacked.
“She was shouting out ‘help me’ ” but she couldn’t find her in the dark,” said her father.
The couples had been at a disco in Drogheda and went out to the beauty spot when the venue closed. It is unclear how long they had been in the forest before they were attacked at around 4.30am.
The alarm was raised when one of the women managed to escape and seek help at a nearby house.
The two women and one of the men were brought to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
While they were there a number of men arrived at the hospital seeking medical treatment for an injured 17 year old.
Gardaí confirmed that four teenagers were arrested at the hospital and were detained for questioning at Drogheda and Dundalk Garda stations. One of the teenagers was aged under 18, say gardaí.
A fifth teenager was arrested yesterday afternoon.
For some time after the alarm was raised there were serious concerns about the welfare of the fourth person in the car, who had also been attacked.
Gardaí spent over five hours searching for him yesterday morning. They feared he could have been lost in the wood’s 400 acres of forest and thick copses.
The Garda dog unit and the air support unit helped in the search.
Gardaí were contacted at around 10.30am yesterday and told he had managed to make his way home.
Townley Hall is about four kilometres from Drogheda. The walks and nature trails in the woods have made it a popular spot for families.
There were calls for security at the woods to be reviewed.
The entrance gates do not close and Drogheda mayor Frank Maher said, “It is a beauty spot and people enjoy going to it and using it. Part of its beauty is it is open to the public but after this horrific incident there should be a review of its accessibility after daylight hours.”
Locals have expressed concern in recent months because of reports that the area is being frequented by groups of people drinking in the woods and burning small campfires.