Two men stable after savage attack

NEIGHBOURS in a quiet Cork estate were scrubbing blood off the pavements after the stabbing of two young men yesterday.

A man named locally as Gary O’Sullivan, aged 21, and his 20-year-old friend were savagely attacked at 3am by two knife-wielding intruders in a rented house on Elm Drive, Shamrock Lawn, Douglas.

Both victims were taken to Cork University Hospital with multiple stab wounds. Their condition is said to be serious but stable.

Gardaí have not interviewed the young men about the identity of their attackers but say they are following a definite line of inquiry. The attack occurred early yesterday morning, when the two attackers arrived at the rented two-storey house, where Mr O’Sullivan is living. They broke in through the back door and burst into the living room. The intruders stabbed Mr O’Sullivan and his friend several times in the chest and sides, before running off.

Mr O’Sullivan staggered out of his house, shouting: “Help me, help me.”

He went from house to house, banging on the doors while bleeding heavily. He ended up beside the door of a neighbour’s house 20 yards down the road, where a bloodstain was visible yesterday.

The other victim lay down in the front garden and one neighbour covered him with a blanket and called for an ambulance. “It only took about 15 minutes, but it seemed like an eternity. He had fairly deep cuts in his side, so please God he will recover,” the neighbour said.

By 3.15am, the whole street had awoken, the gardaí had arrived and everyone was struggling to make sense of the commotion.

Neighbours on Elm Drive, a neatly kept street of about 40 semi-detached houses, were busy yesterday cleaning up the trail of blood.

One neighbour said: “It’s scary stuff and it’s hard to tell children about it. We’re all in shock because this is a very quiet street. It’s all families.”

Gardaí sealed off the house at Elm Drive and completed a technical examination yesterday.

They have dismissed previous reports that a machete was used in the attack. “At this stage, there’s no evidence to suggest that,” a spokesman said.

Gardaí have contacted Mr O’Sullivan’s mother, Eleanor, who is on holidays abroad, and are keeping her informed of developments.

“She is a lovely woman and I feel very sorry for her, coming home to that,” another neighbour said.