Man critical after city stabbing

A MAN in his mid-40s is fighting for his life after being stabbed a number of times with several sharp weapons as he walked to his home.

The man was stabbed and slashed at 1.50am yesterday just after he got out of a taxi to walk into his home in a Cork suburb.

The victim, who is well known to gardaí, was rushed to Cork University Hospital and later transferred to Mercy University Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. A hospital spokesman described his condition as critical.

Gardaí cordoned off the scene of the stabbing at Plunkett Road, in Ballyphehane, and forensic experts carried out a detailed examination of the area.

Gardaí were carrying out house-to-house inquiries in the area yesterday and have appealed for anybody who may have witnessed the attack to come forward.

A senior garda spokesman said they were particularly interested in speaking to a taxi driver who dropped the victim to his home a very short time before he was attacked.

Detectives were looking at CCTV footage last night and have established that the victim was attacked by at least two men.

They are also looking at the possibility that a silver saloon-type car, possibly a BMW, seen in the area around the time of the stabbing was used by the man’s attackers.

It is believed he was attacked very soon after he got out of the taxi. The garda spokesman said they were looking at the possibility the victim may have been socialising in the city some time prior to the stabbing and may have been involved in an earlier row which sparked the attack.

They are appealing for anybody with information to contact Togher Garda Station at 021-4947120.

In an unconnected incident, gardaí in north Cork cordoned off a house in Mitchelstown yesterday morning after the discovery of a man’s body.

The discovery, made by a neighbour at 10.30am, led gardaí to seal off the house and call in the expertise of assistant state pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster.

She carried out a postmortem at CUH last night which confirmed the man had died accidentally.

The dead man, who had lived alone at the house at St Fanahan’s Place, was believed to be aged 49.

Meanwhile, gardaí hope today to be able to interview a young man who was shot on a residential street in Birr, Co Offaly.

Gardaí were alerted to Wood Row in the centre of the town just after midnight on Sunday where they found a man lying on the ground with gun shot injuries to his right leg.

The man, reported to be Polish, was taken to Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore, where his condition was described as stable.

Later in the morning, gardaí recovered a legally held firearm, which has been sent for forensic and ballistic examination.

Gardaí said it was too early to say if the shooting was linked to a possible break-in.

Detectives were not able to interview the man yesterday and hope to be in a position to do so today.

They are trying to piece together the events that led to the shooting and who carried out the shooting and why.

Gardaí were conducting local inquiries in Wood Row and on Mill Street yesterday and have appealed for witnesses to come forward.