Man held after spate of machete attacks in Cork

Gardaí are questioning a man about a spate of brutal machete attacks in Cork City in which three people including two teenagers, were seriously injured.

The man, who is in his early 30s and originally from Co Waterford, was arrested on the northside of Cork on Thursday night seconds after the latest attack.

A 19-year-old American woman, who is studying in Cork, had just left a concert at the Firkin Crane in Shandon shortly after 10pm when she was confronted by a man on Dominic St.

He attempted to take her purse and when she resisted, she was struck on the side of her head with a machete.

She suffered a large gash above one of her ears and screamed. Her attacker fled the scene on foot and dropped the weapon.

However, he ran straight into two gardaí who had been deployed on foot patrol in the area as part of a special Garda operation, mounted after two similar attacks in the previous days.

They arrested the man at the scene and he was taken to Mayfield Garda Station where he was still being detained last night under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. He can be held for up to 24 hours.

A machete found nearby is undergoing forensic tests.

Gardaí were also conducting follow-up searches at several addresses yesterday.

The suspect, who also has an address in Cork City, is being questioned about the Dominic St attack, and about three other attacks in the area which have been reported since last weekend.

Last Sunday, two males confronted a man in his early 50s on Upper John St at around 9pm.

They threatened the man with a machete and then threatened to kill him before making off with a small amount of cash.

The next incident occurred at around 10pm on Wednesday. A woman in her early 50s was walking along Redemption Rd when she was attacked from behind by a man. He demanded cash and her purse and when she refused, she was struck three times with a machete.

She suffered two large wounds to her head and a large wound on one of her arms. Her attacker fled on foot. The woman was taken to Cork University Hospital for treatment.

Following that attack, gardaí set up an incident room at Watercourse Road Garda Station.

They examined CCTV footage and flooded the area with extra gardaí, including uniformed and plain-clothes officers.

However, a machete-wielding attacker struck again in the Shandon area on Thursday night, attacking an 18-year-old man on Exchange St.

The victim was struck on the head with a machete, suffering a large gash to his forehead, before the attacker searched his pockets and fled.

It is believed the same individual was responsible for attacking the American teenager on nearby Dominic St minutes later.

Supt Tom Myers, who oversaw the Garda operation, described the attacks as “particularly vicious”.

“We are glad to have apprehended a suspect and confident we will bring this investigation to a successful conclusion,” he said.