Gardaí on Sunday morning were questioning a 43-year-old man who attacked bar staff in a Cork City pub with a knife after they had earlier asked him to leave the pub when he became unruly and disruptive.
The man, who is from the Douglas area on Cork’s southside, was ejected from the Briar Rose Bar and Grill on the Douglas Road at around 5.30pm on Saturday when he became boisterous and unruly.
The man returned 30 minutes later armed with a knife and wearing a balaclava and went behind the bar counter where he attacked two members of staff, including one man who was slashed in the face.
Bar staff were able to disarm the man and with the assistance of several customers, they were able to detain him until gardaí arrived and arrested him and brought him to Togher Garda station.
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The man was detained at Togher under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows gardaí to hold suspects for up to a maximum of 24 hours before they have to be released or charged.
Gardaí have taken witness statements from both staff and customers at the Briar Rose while they have also collected CCTV footage from the pub which they hope will help them in their investigation.
Gardaí have also recovered a Stanley knife from the scene which will be sent for forensic examination to confirm that it was the weapon used by the suspect in the attack on the two members of the staff.
A garda source described the attack as particularly disturbing as it happened in a busy suburban bar on a Saturday afternoon and it left many customers, as well as staff at the pub, shocked and shaken.
“This was a nasty attack because the belief is that this guy went all the way home to get the knife – he had plenty of time to cool down but coming back to the bar and attacking staff like that was bad.”
