Man arrested over knifepoint abduction
The woman pulled into a Texaco service station in Fermoy, Co Cork, at around 7am on Thursday, December 8.
As she was preparing to leave, a man jumped into the passenger seat and put a knife against her chest.
He demanded she drive her Toyota Yaris in the direction of Cork city.
However, a few minutes later, he told her to turn off the main Cork-Dublin road 1.5 kilometres south of the village of Rathcormac, at a place known locally as Dr Barry’s Bridge.
The woman feared for her life and jumped from the car. As she started to flag down passing traffic, her abductor drove off at high speed in her vehicle.
A car with two men in it went to the woman’s assistance and alerted gardaí. By then the attacker had fled.
Gardaí believe the stolen car was driven across country, through Glenville, Ballyhooly or Killavullen.
It was eventually found abandoned, with a punctured tyre, near Mallow Golf Club at 9am on the day of the attack.
The woman, who is from Mitchelstown, was not physically harmed, but was traumatised by the ordeal.
As part of their investigation, gardaí examined CCTV footage from the service station and carried out a forensic examination of the car.
Yesterday evening, the garda net closed on a man in Fermoy, who was arrested in connection with the incident. The man was being held last night.
