GARDAÍ IN Cork are to prepare a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) after a man was stabbed and seriously injured when he confronted an intruder in his home over the weekend.
The incident happened at about 11.30pm on Friday night when the farmer in his early 60s returned to his house, some three miles southwest of Crookstown in mid-Cork, after checking on cattle to discover an intruder in a downstairs room.
The farmer challenged the intruder and grappled with him. Both men fell to the floor before the intruder pulled a knife and stabbed the farmer in the back, seriously wounding him.
His wife and two adult daughters were upstairs at the time. Hearing the disturbance, they came downstairs where they discovered the farmer still struggling with the intruder despite being wounded.
The three women, assisted by the farmer, forced the intruder from the house and locked him out before calling the emergency services. The farmer was taken by ambulance to Cork University Hospital.
He suffered a deep stab wound which punctured one of his lungs. He underwent emergency surgery and his condition was yesterday described as stable.
Garda technical experts carried out a forensic examination of the scene while they also carried out a forensic examination of a knife recovered near the scene.
About six hours after the attack, gardaí arrested a 28-year-old man from Cork city near the scene and brought him to Macroom Garda station.
He was later released without charge and gardaí are preparing a file on the matter for the DPP.
