A MIDDLE-aged man is in Garda custody after a woman and her daughter suffered stab wounds during an attack at a house in Co Cork.
The woman, named locally as Donna Foster, who is in her mid-forties, reportedly suffered multiple knife wounds to her neck and stomach during the assault in the harbour town of Cobh yesterday morning.
Ms Foster, who is understood to have also received injuries to her arms while she attempted to shield herself, remains in a serious but stable condition at Cork University Hospital. She underwent emergency surgery last night.
Her teenage daughter also suffered minor injuries during the attack. She was also treated at CUH but was later discharged. It is understood the girl received wounds to her hand as she attempted to wrest the weapon from the assailant’s hand.
Gardaí arrested a man in his fifties in relation to the attack under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. The suspect, who is none to both victims, is being detained at Cobh Garda Station where questioning resumed this morning.
Ms Foster, who has worked as a beautician in Cobh for many years, is from a well-known family in the town.
Yesterday’s incident is the second violent stabbing to send shockwaves through the town in recent months.
On December 28, Valerie Greaney (49) was stabbed to death by her 53-year-old husband Michael before he died by suicide. The murder/suicide took place at the family’s home.
The couple's 21-year-old daughter Michelle, who was seriously injured in the same incident, was released from hospital to accompany her younger sister Sarah (16) to their mother’s funeral.
It later emerged that Mr Greaney was battling mental illness. The physical therapist had previously faced criminal charges after trying to gag and smother a woman. He was found guilty by reason of insanity and sent to the Central Mental Hospital, but later deemed fit to return to the family home.
