A BURGLAR was last night being treated for stab wounds sustained during a break-in. He and an accomplice allegedly threatened to harm a two-year-old child if their demands for money were not met.
Gardaí became aware of the incident when they received a phone call alerting them to a break-in at a house on Templeview Row, Clare Hall, Dublin 13.
Two men armed with a hammer and a knife broke into the house at about 4am yesterday.
One of the male occupants was downstairs at the time and was threatened by the men.
The intruders then made their way upstairs where a young woman was tending to her two-year-old child. There were two other children in the house at the time.
The intruders demanded money and electrical goods, allegedly saying they would attack the baby if the occupants of the house did not co-operate with their demands.
At that stage, the male occupant of the house, a Vietnamese national in his 30s, decided to tackle the man armed with the knife. During the scuffle, the intruder sustained a number of wounds to his head and upper body.
The row spilled over into the kitchen of a neighbouring house through an internal door joining the two properties. When gardaí arrived at the scene, they found one of the intruders on the kitchen floor wounded. He was taken by ambulance to Beaumont Hospital, where he was still being treated last night.
The other intruder had fled the scene by the time the gardaí arrived. He was being sought last night. Gardaí are working on a definite line of inquiry in relation to his identity.
The male occupant of the house sustained a number of minor injuries and was given medical treatment at the scene.
The female occupant, an Irish woman in her 30s, was also injured during the aggravated break-in. She sustained a number of stab wounds to her arms and hands.
Gardaí believe she was wounded while trying to protect herself and her baby from the intruders. She was treated by the crew of a second ambulance called to the scene.
Gardaí sealed off the area and a full forensic examination of both properties was carried out yesterday. Door-to-door inquiries in the area were also conducted by gardaí.
Detectives said the injured intruder was a 24-year-old from the Ballymun area of north Dublin. He is known to gardaí and is expected to be discharged from hospital today, when he will be interviewed about his role in the attack.
Apart from the man, woman and baby directly caught up in the incident, a number of other people were sleeping in the two adjoining houses at the time.
Some are members of a family who run a catering business in the Coolock area.
Gardaí believe their houses may have been singled out for a robbery because the two intruders believed there would be money on the premises related to the occupants' business.
Garda sources described the threat to harm the baby as "extremely worrying". The matter is being investigated by gardaí at Coolock Garda station.