More police deployed after sexual assaults reported
Ch Insp Yvonne McManus speaks out after two women said they were sexually assaulted in the city at the weekend
- Published
A senior officer in Londonderry has reassured women they are doing "everything they can" to protect them after two serious sexual assaults were reported to police over the weekend.
Chief Insp Yvonne McManus said extra officers would be deployed in the coming days and praised the community response following two separate incidents in Derry.
One man appeared in court on Wednesday charged with sexual assault and grievous bodily harm of a woman in her 50s in the Lecky Road on Sunday morning. He denies the charges.
In a separate incident, a 24-year-old man was arrested and subsequently released on police bail over the alleged rape of a young woman at Bank Place in Derry on Saturday morning.
'There's an element of fear'
"People are completely disgusted and there's an element of fear," Ch Insp McManus told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.
"Our role as police is to reassure the public, prevent those type of crimes and bring offenders to justice.
"That's what we have been working really hard on in the last few days."
Ch Insp McManus said she was very conscious of the two women at the centre of the incidents.
"The cuts and bruises and the physical impact will heal but it's what is left after and their sense of safety," she said.
"The disgust within the community about what has happened has quickly turned to action.
"The community came forward and provided footage from their properties and I want to thank the community for that as it was really important as part of the investigations.
"CCTV has also identified lines of inquiry for us as well and I want to thank people for that also".
High visibility of officers in coming days
Thousands of people are expected into Derry on Thursday for the annual Halloween celebrations, considering one of the largest events of its kind in Europe.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) will deploy several hundred officers across the north west.
There will be extra patrols of uniformed and plain-clothed officers in bars, public spaces, bus and train stations looking for signs of what the police have called "predatory behaviour".