GardaI investigating a savage attack which has left a young Co Dublin woman in a serious condition in hospital with stab wounds are expected to issue a photofit of her assailant today.
The 25-year-old woman was walking through Carrickgollogan Woods at Rathmichael in south Co Dublin at midday on Tuesday when a stockily-built man in his 20s attacked her.
Without speaking, the man produced a long carving or barbecue fork and stabbed the woman in the chest, neck and face. He also struck her over the head. The man made no attempt at a sexual assault and ran off when the woman fell to the ground screaming.
She was able to make her way to the nearby Puck Castle Lane golf course, where a number of golfers came to her assistance. She was removed to Loughlins town Hospital. She was discharged from hospital on Tuesday night but was readmitted later when she began suffering from internal bleeding. She is described as being in a serious but stable condition.
There is no indication yet of a motive for the attack. The woman had never seen the man before, and a source close to the investigation says it appears to have been a purely random attack by a very dangerous young man.
The attacker was described as about 5 7["] and of stocky build. He was wearing light-coloured trousers and a T-shirt.
Gardai have appealed to anyone who was in the area of Rathmichael near Carrickgollogan Woods or Puck Castle Lane on Tuesday to contact Shankill Garda station.
Gardai said yesterday there was no connection between the Rathmichael attack and the murder last September of a Dun Laoghaire teenager, Raonaid Murray. Ms Murray was stabbed to death, sustaining wounds to her chest and shoulder, by a man who attacked her in a laneway near her home as she was returning from a pub in Dun Laoghaire.
The eight-month investigation into the murder of Ms Murray is believed to be reaching a conclusion, and gardai are understood to be hopeful of making an arrest.