Gardai are investigating an incident in which a man sexually assaulted a foreign student after picking her up at a bus stop and driving her towards Enniskerry, Co Wicklow.
The attack on the young Korean woman took place last week on the day it was announced by the Garda Commissioner that a special team of detectives is to review cases in which women have disappeared or been murdered in recent years.
Details of the assault have been given to detectives who investigated the disappearance of one of the women, an American student, Miss Annie McCarrick, who was seen catching a bus to Enniskerry on the day she disappeared in 1993. However, there is nothing to connect the two incidents directly.
The 22-year-old Korean woman was standing at a bus stop in Bray at about 4.30 p.m. last Thursday when a man offered her a lift. She told him she wanted to go to Enniskerry and got into the car.
During a brief conversation the man asked her if she knew the area and is believed to have mentioned Johnny Fox's Pub in Glencullen. Eventually, he stopped the car and subjected her to a serious sexual assault. The victim managed to get out of the car and went to Shankill Garda station to report the incident.
The man was driving a red car, believed to have been a Volvo, and was in his 30s. A Garda source said the incident was being treated very seriously and that the man was clearly dangerous.
"This is being investigated in Enniskerry and they will have a deep interest in this. They will be breaking their necks trying to find him," he said.
The source stressed that there was no evidence to link this attack with any of the cases which are now being reviewed by detectives investigating the possibility of a serial killer.
However, the incident took place in the area where a number of disappearances and murders of women have occurred. Several of the 12 cases being reviewed by gardai took place in the Dublin/ Wicklow/Kildare border area, and appear to have involved women being offered lifts on quiet country roads.
Miss McCarrick (26), who was living in Sandymount, was seen catching a bus to Enniskerry from Ranelagh on March 26th, 1993. Two security men at Johnny Fox's Pub told gardai that they saw her in the bar later that evening. Her body has never been found.
On April 3rd the decomposed body of Ms Antoinette Smith (27) was found buried in a bog at The Feather Beds, Glendoo, Killakee. She was last seen on July 12th, 1987. On June 23rd, 1992, just a mile or two away, the remains of Miss Patricia O'Doherty, a prison officer, were discovered in a collapsed peat bank at Glassamucky Borders, Killakee.
The recent disappearance of Miss Deirdre Jacob (19), from Newbridge, Co Kildare, has heightened suspicions that there may be a serial killer in the area. Miss Jacob was last seen walking home along the Brennanstown Road from Newbridge on July 28th.