Garda hunt after taxi driver attacked and robbed in Cork

Barry Roche

Gardaí investigating a vicious attack and robbery of a taxi driver in Cork city early yesterday morning have begun studying CCTV footage to try to identify the two men involved in the incident.

The attack happened after the 50-year-old taxi driver picked up two men in their 20s on Patrick Street at 4.45 am and took them to Ballyvolane on Cork's northside.

On arrival at an address in Ballyvolane, the two men attacked the taxi driver without provocation, hitting and kicking him around the head after dragging him from the taxi.

The man suffered a fractured eye socket in the vicious attack and was robbed of about €100 by the two men, who then drove off in the taxi. They then abandoned in Kinvara Close.

The taxi driver managed to raise the alarm and was taken to Cork University Hospital, where he was treated for his injuries before he spoke briefly to gardaí and outlined what happened.

Detectives have now begun studying CCTV footage from the Patrick Street area in a bid to identify the two men.

Garda technical experts have also begun a forensic examination of the taxi in a bid to find DNA or fingerprint evidence which could help them catch the culprits.

Gardaí have appealed to anyone who may have witnessed the men getting into the taxi or have any information that can assist them to contact Mayfield Garda Station on 021-4558510.