Gardaí are investigating a serious assault on a prison officer at his home in Limerick yesterday morning.
The man received a wound to his head outside his house and was treated for his injuries at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital.
Gardaí at Roxboro Road said the prison officer was awoken by noises outside his home at Ballysimon on the outskirts of Limerick city at 3 a.m. yesterday.
He went outside to investigate the cause of the disturbance and found a man writing graffiti on a wall at his home.
When he confronted the culprit, the prison officer was attacked by a second man and suffered the injury to his head.
Gardaí were unable to confirm whether a knife was used in the assault although they said some type of "implement" was used in the attack. They were carrying out searches and house-to-house inquiries in the area yesterday.
"We are treating this matter as a very serious incident in which a man was attacked at his own home while his property was being vandalised," said a Garda spokesman.
The prison officer - who was said to be deeply traumatised following the attack - was taken to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital where he received stitches to a head wound and was later discharged.
Yesterday's assault is just the latest in a number of serious incidents involving attacks on Limerick prison officers and their property.