Gardai investigating the assault of two Nigerian men and the sexual assault of a Nigerian woman at gunpoint at an apartment in Cork at the weekend are looking for a man in his late 20s to assist them with their inquiries.
A Garda source yesterday said they were continuing to pursue a number of lines of inquiry but were anxious to speak to a Cork man about the attacks on the Nigerians in Mount Oval Village, Rochestown, early on Saturday morning.
Detectives have already called to the man's home on Cork's north side as well as a number of other locations where he is known to live, but so far have been unable to locate him in order to speak to him about Saturday's break-in by three armed men.
Officers say they believe the man may be connected to the attacks, but they don't know the motive for the assaults. They have excluded any racist motive for the incident.
It emerged yesterday that the Nigerian man renting the apartment answered the door at around 1.30 a.m. He was assaulted by three men who put a pillowcase over his head and tied his hands before beating him around the head and face with the butt of a handgun.
It is believed that one of the intruders then went to an upstairs bedroom where he found a 19-year-old Nigerian woman and carried out a serious sexual assault on her at gunpoint.
About an hour later, a second Nigerian man called to the apartment and he was pulled inside and also beaten. The three Nigerians were then driven to Nash's Boreen in Fair Hill where they were released some time after 4.30 a.m.
