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ASSAULTS in Kerry have seen a steady rise over the past five years according to the latest statistics from the Kerry Garda Division.
Superintendent Dan Keane gave the figures at last Friday’s meeting of the Joint Policing Committee in Tralee.
Over the past five years there has been a steady increase in both ‘assaults causing harm’ and ‘minor assaults’.
Back in 2014 there 114 assaults causing harm, increasing each year to 155 in 2018, a rise of 40%. Similarly, there were 269 minor assault incidents in 2014 rising to 386 in 2018, up by 43%. Crimes against the person offences were up 19% in 2018 on the previous year.
Supt Keane said there were a number of factors contributing to this increase, including a rise in the numbers of people going out at night.
He said more people are reporting assaults but a large number of victims do not follow up the complaints. Supt Keane also said there were 59 sexual assaults reported to gardaí in 2018 compared to 62 in 2017.
