Thieves arrested after crashing car

FOUR men who robbed a service station at knifepoint were arrested early yesterday morning when they crashed their getaway car after a 15-mile chase.

A senior garda spokesman said that the men had gone into O’Leary’s service station in Lissarda, County Cork at around 9pm on Sunday where one of them threatened a female member of staff with a knife.

He grabbed approximately €700 from the till while his accomplices took bottles of wine and other items before fleeing in a car.

The car was then pursued by a garda patrol car from Crookstown and another from Bandon. “The car was followed for about 15 miles before it crashed near Newcestown. The men took to the fields. A search was organised and they were arrested in the early hours of the morning,” the garda spokesman said.

Two of the men were taken to Bandon garda station for questioning and the other two to Macroom. They were detained for a number of hours before being released without charge. A file is to be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Gardaí in Blackrock are seeking witnesses to the stabbing on New Year’s Day of a 19-year-old man.

He told gardaí he was walking with friends in the local ‘amenity area’ at around 9am when a man who was sitting on a bench lunged at him for no reason with a knife and stabbed him in the stomach.

The victim’s injuries were described as not being life-threatening. The attacker was described as being in his late twenties. He was said to be 5ft 10in tall, wearing a black hoodie and black tracksuit bottoms.

Meanwhile, gardaí in Mallow Road confirmed they are investigating an alleged stabbing at a house in the Ballyvolane area in the early hours of New Year’s Day. It is understood the victim’s injuries are not life-threatening.