Man and woman questioned about daylight knife attack

Detectives were questioning a man and a woman last night about a daylight knife attack on a woman in Cork City earlier this year.

The man, aged 21, and the woman, aged 20, were arrested in the Blarney area yesterday as part of an on-going Garda investigation into organised criminal activity and serious assaults in the Cork City area.

The pair was detained under the provisions of Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007, which allows gardaí detain suspects for up to seven days.

The pair were taken to Togher and Bridewell Garda Stations for questioning.

A Garda spokesman confirmed that the two are being questioned in connection with several alleged offences, including a daylight knife attack last March in which a young woman suffered serious slash injuries to her face.

The 29-year-old victim had been parking her car at Friar St, close to Douglas St, when she was approached by a man armed with a Stanley knife.

The woman was slashed across the face and sustained several wounds around her mouth. She was taken to Cork University Hospital for treatment.

Her attacker fled the scene before gardaí arrived.

There was no attempt to rob the victim of cash or to take her car, and gardaí said at the time that there seemed to be no apparent motive other than to harm the woman.

Meanwhile, a man in his 30s was arrested yesterday by gardaí investigating an aggravated burglary in the College Rd area of Cork City on Thursday night.

There were reports that a man armed with a knife had followed people to a house in the Highfield Avenue area, and waited for them to enter, before ringing the doorbell and forcing his way in.

The man was taken to Togher Garda Station and was due to appear in court yesterday charged in connection with the incident.