Two arrested after petrol attack on man in Cork last month

Two brothers arrested by detectives in early morning raid on house in Wilton area

Gardaí in Cork investigating a petrol attack on a 23-year-old father-of-three which left him with life changing injuries have arrested two men for questioning.

Detectives investigating the attack on Keith Greaney on Saturday arrested two brothers, aged 24 and 27, at an address in the Wilton area on Cork's southside at around 8am for questioning about the assault.

The two men were arrested under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows gardaí detain suspects for up to 24 hours. One man was taken to Mayfield Garda Station and the other taken to Gurranebraher Garda Station.

Meanwhile officers are continuing to look for a third suspect and while they are keeping an open mind on about the attack they believe it stems from a personal dispute between the victim and another young man.

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Mr Greaney suffered what have been described as “life changing injuries” when he was attacked by three men at the home he shared with his girlfriend Nicole O’Leary in Dunard in Lotamore in Mayfield on January 20th.

Attack

Mr Greaney was with Ms O’Leary when three men burst into the house just before 4am that morning and dragged from his bed and beat him with an exhaust pipe from a car before attacking him with a machete.

The gang then doused Mr Greaney in petrol and set him alight before smashing the windscreen of his car as they fled the scene in a black Ford Mondeo and a Citroen Berlingo van which gardaí later seized on the southside of Cork.

Gardaí have forwarded a machete and a car exhaust pipe which they believe were used in the attack on Mr Greaney to the Forensic Science Ireland laboratory to see if they were in fact the weapons used in the attack.

Mr Greaney was rushed by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where he was put in an induced coma on a ventilator by doctors as they treated him for serious burns to his head and chest following the petrol attack.

Mr Greaney came out of the induced coma on January 22nd and gardaí spoke to him briefly about the attack by his three assailants before he was again put in an induced coma to help with the healing process.

Mr Greaney has since been discharged from Cork University Hospital and on Thursday he made a detailed statement to detectives outlining what happened on the night that he was attacked.

Barry Roche

Barry Roche

Barry Roche is Southern Correspondent of The Irish Times