A man died when his car plunged into a river after a woman was left badly injured in an apparently linked assault in Cork.
The attack on the 31-year-old woman happened in the garage of a house at Cobh, on the outskirts of Cork.
She suffered serious head injuries and her condition in a Cork hospital was described today as critical. The circumstances of the incident were not clear, but gardai believe a man fled from the scene in a car.
Soon afterwards gardai were told that a car had been driven into the River Lee near the centre of Cork. Later the body of a man, also aged 31, was recovered from the vehicle. Gardai said foul play was not suspected in the death of the man.