Anti-drugs campaigner stabbed in leg

AN anti-drugs campaigner is recovering today after being stabbed with a screwdriver in broad daylight during an unprovoked assault.

Terence Alcock, who has been a prominent opponent of drug abuse in east Cork since his 21-year-old son Anthony died of a cocaine overdose in April 2006, was attacked in the centre of Cobh town at approximately 12.50pm yesterday afternoon.

The 45-year-old was walking in the Pearse Square area of the town when an individual in his late 20s known to Mr Alcock stepped out of a car parked in the vicinity.

It is understood Mr Alcock became involved in an altercation with this man, resulting in punches being thrown.

The 45-year-old is believed to have managed to pin down his attacker during the argument.

However, eye-witnesses said a second man took out a screwdriver and stabbed Mr Alcock in the leg. A third man believed to be related to the attacker is understood to have also been in the area at the time of the assault.

Despite officers being called to the scene by a number of witnesses, Mr Alcock declined medical treatment and was not considered to be in a serious enough condition to be brought to hospital.

He had not made a statement to gardaí by yesterday evening.

The daylight assault was the latest in a series of stabbings in Cork city in recent months which have led to concerns of a potential surge in knife crime.

These incidents include:

* An attack at MacCurtain Street in the early hours of Wednesday morning when a man was found with what appeared to be knife wounds to his head.

He was not badly injured and no complaint was made to gardaí

* A domestic incident in the city’s Mayfield area last week.

* A stabbing of a teenager in Fairfield Avenue over the August bank holiday. The teenager remains in hospital with serious injures to his spine.

* Another teenager who was stabbed across the back of his head with a switch blade after he ran into a shop to escape an altercation in Mallow on July 29.

Senior gardaí across Cork and the rest of the country have repeatedly urged young people and adults not to carry knives as they significantly increase the possibility of a violent assault or stabbing, either against the person carrying the weapon or in self-defence.