Why Did the Gardai, take the Grandmother home, and not to Hospital, Bizzare, Grandmother attacked and sexually assaulted after night out in Waterford.

Wed, 26 Apr, 2023 – 13:00

A grandmother who was attacked and sexually assaulted as she walked home on a night out in Waterford has said she was left for dead by her assailants. 

The incident happened in the early hours of March 30 in the Polederry area of Waterford and gardaí say investigations are ongoing into the allegations.

The woman said she was grabbed from behind by a man and woke up on the ground hours later, half naked, with a scarf over her face and covered in mud.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, the woman, who does not wish to be named, said she suffered a head injury during the attack.

“I don’t go out much, but I went out that night with friends because I’d stayed in all over covid.

“I couldn’t get a taxi home so I didn’t hang around and started walking on my own.

“When I turned around there was a man there, it wasn’t too late, maybe after midnight.

“I don’t know where he came out of, and he said ‘I’m going home with you’. 

“I knew something was going to happen but I didn’t think I would be left to die. I remember saying ‘get away from me’.

“I don’t know what happened next. I woke up half naked, on the ground full of dirt and my scarf was wrapped around my face and some of my body.

“When I did come around, I was in a lot of pain. There was a man beside me, he was on the phone and then he handed me the phone and said it was the guards.”

The woman said gardaí brought her home and returned to take her to hospital the following morning.

“I was traumatised and I had a head injury. I don’t know why I wasn’t brought to hospital straight away. The bruises on my legs, breast, neck, and thighs came out a few days later.

“After I was examined I was brought back to the scene of the crime to talk the gardaí through it. I am so traumatised.”

The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show four in 10 Irish adults have experienced sexual violence.

The rate is higher among women (52%) than men (28%) while 78% of people who responded to the study knew who the perpetrator was.