Music fans may have seen attacker

People leaving a school concert may have seen a man following a young woman who was later found semi-conscious in a Co Cork harbour town.

Gardaí have revealed that the woman has told them she panicked and contacted friends because she was being followed by the man in Kinsale.

Gardaí were alerted by her friends and later found the woman in a distressed state on a popular walkway between Compass Quay and Dromderrig Bridge at about 10.30pm last Monday. She was taken to Cork University Hospital and later discharged.

Dozens of people have been interviewed by gardaí who are trying to find out if the woman was physically attacked by the man, or if in a panic she stumbled and hit her head.

Insp Brendan Fogarty, who is leading the Garda investigation, said that up to a dozen gardaí were working on the case.

“We have carried out house-to-house inquiries in the area and we have also spoke to people who would have been working on boats on the quays at the time,” he said.

Insp Fogarty said that a number of people would have been leaving Kinsale Community College following a school concert around the time of the alleged attack. “We are anxious to speak to any of those who attended the concert and saw anything even remotely suspicious on their way home.”

He also renewed an appeal for a couple walking a small brown and white dog who the woman said she saw prior to the attack to come forward.

Anybody with information is asked to contact Kinsale Garda Station at 021 4772302.