Man released in solicitor stabbing inquiry

A man questioned over the stabbing of a solicitor at her home in north Dublin two years ago has been released from custody.

The man, who is in his 30s, was arrested in Dublin city centre yesterday and detained over night at Coolock Garda station. A file is to be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Gardaí believe the victim of the attack, Violet Quigley (46), who almost died after being stabbed by a man who broke into her home in Donaghmede, may have been targeted by somebody paid to kill her.

She was stabbed dozens of times in her bed in the hands, arms, legs, chest and back. She managed to raise the alarm after making her way into the front bedroom, opening the window and calling for help.

Neighbours found Ms Quigley collapsed but still conscious. She was taken to Beaumont Hospital and after undergoing surgery and a large number of blood transfusions she was placed on a life-support machine and survived.

The man who attacked her was masked and armed with a knife and a second weapon, which gardaí described at the time as a blunt object. Ms Quigley lived alone and while there had been a burglary at her home just days before she was attacked, gardaí do not believe the man who attacked her was a burglar.