A teenager is due to appear in court in Cork today to be charged in connection with a serious assault in Carrigaline in South Cork which has left a 29 year old man fighting for his life in hospital.
Gardai investigating the assault on the man in the Glenwood Court area of Carrigaline on Wednesday received directions last night from the DPP to charge the 19 year old suspect.
The man had presented himself at Togher Garda Station at around 10pm on Wednesday after gardai issued an appeal for information about the assault in Carrigaline at around 5.30pm that same day.
The teenager was arrested for assault causing serious harm and detained at Togher Garda Station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows gardai hold suspects for up to 24 hours.
Meanwhile the injured man, who received serious head injuries in the assault, remains in a critical condition in Cork University Hospital after undergoing emergency surgery on Wednesday night.
Gardai cordoned off the scene and garda technical experts carried out a forensic examination of the area for DNA evidence on Thursday to help them try and establish who was involved in the assault.
Gardai have begun harvesting CCTV footage from the Glenwood estate and around the town to try and establish what exactly happened and what led to the serious assault on the injured man.
They have also begun door to door inquires in the Glenwood Estate area and have appealed to anyone who may have witnessed any altercation or the actual assault to contact them.
They have also appealed to passing motorists with dash cam footage to contact them at Togher Garda Station on 021-4947120 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any garda station.
Local Fianna Fail Cllr Seamus McGrath said that news of the assault in Carrigaline had shocked the local community as people woke up to hear that a man was fighting for his life in hospital.
“Obviously my thoughts are with the victim and his family at this time and we’re all just hoping that he will pull through because he seems to have got a very bad beating and is now fighting for his life
“But this assault happened in a very mature settled estate in the town – there is huge shock this morning but there is also a real feeling of frustration over the need for extra gardai in the town.
“We needed more proactive police and greater garda visibility and while the individual members are doing their best, they are just too stretched, and we are not getting the level of service we deserve.
“We have been making that call for some time – we have 18,000 people living in Carrigaline and I’m told that we have 22 gardai based in the station here to serve that community and it’s not enough.
“The includes four sergeants and garda members and they are broken up into plainclothes and community policing and that’s probably spread out over a four-way rota to cover 24 hours.
“When you factor in people being of leave, you could end up with two or three people on duty on a night and that’s not enough for an urban area the size of Carrigaline with its population.
“When something like this happens, it just highlights again the need for proactive and visible policing and I know all communities make that case, but we need to respond to serious incidents like this.
“And as local representatives, we have to be the voice of the people and there is certainly a strong sense out there that we are not getting the policing service that we require.”
