Gardai identify suspect sought for stabbing of Dublin footballer

Gardai believe they have identified the man who repeatedly stabbed well known Dublin Gaelic footballer Jonny Cooper after a night out in the city centre last weekend.

The suspect is in his 30s and has a history of violent crime including assault, robberies, carjackings and making threats to others while armed with knives.

He has spent time in prison, including one lengthy sentence for a crime spree in which he beat one man for his mobile phone, stamped on a woman’s head during the random street attack and carried out several smash and grab robberies on retail businesses.

The suspect is currently before the courts on serious charges unrelated to the stabbing of Mr Cooper, which cannot be disclosed for legal reasons.

Gardai are satisfied they can place him at the scene of the attack on the inter-county player on Dorset St in Dublin’s north inner city in the early hours of last Saturday morning.

And while he lives a transient lifestyle with addresses at homeless hostels in Dublin and also in the west of Ireland, gardaí believe they know where he is residing at present and are preparing to question him.

Garda sources said the suspect has a long history of drug and alcohol abuse and that a lot of his crime is spur of the moment and chaotic.

However, the same sources said his offending had graduated from minor public order crime when he was a teenager to offences characterised by serious violence in more recent years.

Dublin footballer Mr Cooper was found injured on the pavement on Dorset St at about 5.30am last Saturday.

CCTV images recorded at the scene show him sitting on the steps at the front of a Georgian house.

A man is seen walking up the steps behind him and apparently leaning in to slash or stab Mr Cooper a number of times in the face and body.

The victim was apparently resting as he was making his way home from a social event after his club team Na Fianna was knocked out of the Dublin championships last Friday. However, he was so traumatised by the attack he could not remember it in detail.

The player, from Glasnevin in north Dublin, had spent last Friday night and the early hours of Saturday in the city centre before being attacked on his way home.

The attacker fled the scene, and it was only when a taxi driver saw Mr Cooper injured on the ground that the alarm was raised.

The emergency services were alerted and Mr Cooper, who was captain of the Dublin U21 team that won the All-Ireland four years ago, was taken to hospital.

He had wounds to his upper body and face but has since been discharged and a criminal investigation was begun.

Initially gardai could not identify the attacker from the CCTV footage. But following a week of investigation and an appeal on the RTE’s CrimeCall programme they believe they now know who he is.

It was unclear if the incident was a robbery or if Mr Cooper was followed or targeted randomly.

Some of the previous offences committed by the chief suspect were motivated by robbery while others were unplanned violence.