Investigation continues into abduction of child

GARDAÍ are continuing an investigation after a man dumped a young mother out of his car and abducted her 2-year-old daughter.

The incident led to a major search operation on the Cork/Limerick border, involving patrols from a number of districts.

The alarm was raised when gardaí in a patrol car were flagged down by the distressed mother near the Catholic Church in Charleville, Co Cork.

It emerged that the man, woman and child travelled from Limerick city to visit friends in the town on Monday afternoon.

However, their friends were not home and, as they resumed their return journey, a row broke out between the adults, who are from eastern Europe.

The man, who is in his 30s and not the father of the toddler, threw the woman out of his car and drove off.

Mallow-based Superintendent Pat McCarthy, who is leading the investigation, said gardaí were given the man’s mobile phone number by the child’s mother.

He said: “They contacted him and asked him to stop but he did not. They repeatedly rang him after that but he wouldn’t pick up the phone.”

At about 7pm, gardaí discovered the man had crashed his car nearly 25km away, at Mahoonagh, near Castlemahon. The driver was arrested at the scene on suspicion of drunk-driving.

The child was taken to hospital for a check-up and was reunited with her mother.