Hijacked driver sought help at fire station

A woman whose car was hijacked in Dublin managed to run to a nearby fire station for protection, it emerged today.

The 38-year-old was approached by two men while she was waiting at traffic lights on East Wall Road near Dublin Port at 9.15pm yesterday.

One man forced his way into the passenger seat and hit the woman with a blunt instrument while the other tried to get in on the driver’s side.

A Dublin Fire Brigade spokesman said the woman managed to get out of the car and ran to the nearby East Wall Fire Station.

“She came running into the front door. She was hysterical, but we just brought her in, calmed her down, gave her a cup of tea and called the guards,” he said.

The two men had followed the woman into the fire station in the car but then sped off when they saw her receive assistance.

The woman told the firefighters how she had managed to lock the door on the driver’s side of the car, but then one of the men broke in on the passenger side.

She was hit on the head with a blunt object but managed to undo her seatbelt and jumped out of the car.

She is from the East Wall area and had just dropped her children home in her boyfriend’s red Mazda car before the incident took place.

The firefighters in the East Wall station then went to the the woman’s house to check on her children.

“They saw the car speeding around so we told the guards the car was in the locality,” said the fire brigade spokesman.

Gardaí quickly stopped the car on the East Wall road and two Latvian men, aged 28 and 29, were arrested.

A Garda spokesman said they are currently detained at Store Street garda station under section four of the Criminal Justice Act. They are expected to appear at Dublin District Court later today in connection with the incident.

Gardaí said the woman was not sexually assaulted during the attack.