Police officer ‘has sex’ with prostitute after arresting her

A police officer in Ireland has been accused of raping a prostitute after arresting her during a raid.

The officer in question claims that the sex was consensual, but the young woman has told authorities that she was raped following from her arrest.

After she made the accusations, the officer - who has not been named - was arrested and questioned.

A second woman - who was also arrested on prostitution charges - claims that she witnessed the attack.

Despite this, the officer was released and received disciplinary rather than criminal action.

A statement from Irish police ombudsman reads: "The investigation, carried out by a GSOC senior investigating officer, involved taking statements from the two women and from the garda [police officer] concerned.

"The first complainant's statement said that she felt compelled to have sexual intercourse with the garda concerned because he was a member of An Garda Siochána involved in a prosecution which led to her conviction for an offence under s.11 of the Criminal Law Sexual Offences Act 1993 and she feared further prosecution.

"Evidence showed that the garda had been involved in the prosecution of the two women.

"The garda's statement said that the sexual intercourse had occurred subsequent to the arrest, but that it was consensual."

It continues: "The records of duty relevant to the garda were contradictory as regards his actual hours of duty, so it was unclear whether he was on- or off-duty at the time of the act.

"A report summarising the above findings of the investigation and making a recommendation was issued to Garda Authorities.

"A breach of discipline was found by Garda Authorities and a sanction applied."

Charities that support sex workers have criticised the handling of the incident.

Support worker Lucy Smith told the Irish Independent that she could not believe that an officer having sex with an arrest woman could be ‘consensual’.

She described the outcome as ‘problematic’.

Ms Smith said: "I don't believe it was the sex worker's choice to have sex with one of the officers that had arrested her."