Attacker had ‘cased’ other shops before stabbing woman

A LONE attacker who stabbed a young business woman just after lunchtime on Wednesday and stole her boutique takings had cased a number of other shops before attacking his 23-year-old victim, gardaí said yesterday.

The culprit was seen in New Ross a day before the daylight attack which left Diane Hamilton, a single woman from Camblin, New Ross, County Wexford, fighting for her life. Last night, she remained in a serious but stable condition at Waterford Regional hospital following emergency surgery.

Gardaí believe the attacker was not a local and urged anyone who was around Whispers Boutique on Quay Street, New Ross, around 2.15pm on

Wednesday and saw a man in a red jacket in his early 40s to come forward.

“This was an unusual, vicious and very serious attack, not the normal run of the mill attack,” said local Garda Superintendent, Tom Saunderson.

“Diane is very seriously injured but she has provided us with good information. We are at a very early stage in our investigation and have received a huge amount of information.

“We are still anxious to speak to anyone who saw anything suspicious in the town, back as far as Tuesday. There are a number of CCTV cameras in the town and we are looking at these as well,” he said.

The attacker managed to pull Ms Hamilton to the back of the small shop, which only opened last year. He stabbed her several times in the shoulders and back and then grabbed a substantial amount of cash and cheques from the register and fled the scene.

A nearby shopkeeper became suspicious of the man coming away from the shop and found Diane seriously injured.

The man is in his mid to late-40s, 5ft 7in in height, with to grey/black hair and has a beard and moustache. He wore a distinctive short red jacket, blue jeans and an unusual woollen grey hat