By Eoin English
A man is being questioned by gardaí in Cork city about two stabbings in less than 24 hours over the weekend.
One victim in his early 20s was stabbed in an unprovoked attack on Barrack St on Sunday night and another man was stabbed in the chest with what’s believed to have been a screwdriver during a suspected burglary on the southside of the city in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Gardaí were last night investigating a possible connection between the two incidents.
The suspect can be held for up to 24 hours before a decision has to be made to either charge or release him.
The alarm was raised about the unprovoked stabbing incident on Gillabbey St, close to the city centre, at around 10.15pm on Sunday night after three people who were walking on the street were confronted by a male.
It is understood that there was no demand for money or mobile phones, and that no words were exchanged between the group and the suspect in the moments before the attack.
One of the people in the group, a male, aged 20, received a stab wound. It has been described as ‘non life-threatening’.
The attacker fled the scene on foot and the injured man's friends raised the alarm.
An ambulance was called and several gardaí, including members of the armed Regional Support Unit, rushed to the scene.
A description of the attacker was circulated and a short time later, uniformed gardaí on public order duty on Barrack St observed a male in his late 20s matching the description of the attacker.
It is just a few hundred yards from where the attack took place.
The suspect was arrested on the spot, detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, and was taken to the Bridewell Garda Station for questioning about the attack.
The injured party was taken to hospital for medical treatment and the scene of the attack was sealed off for a garda technical examination.
It was confirmed last night that gardaí are investigating a possible connection between this incident and an earlier stabbing incident in the Togher area.
Gardaí are investigating an aggravated burglary incident in the Cherry Tree Rd area of Togher which occurred at around 3.15am on Sunday.
In this incident, a man disturbed an intruder and received a stab wound in the chest from what’s believed to have been a screwdriver.
The attacker in this incident also fled the scene on foot.
The stabbings marred an otherwise relatively trouble-free Jazz bank holiday weekend, with gardaí dealing with mostly drink-related public order issues.
