A doctor who took a blood sample from a man during an investigation into the murder of a Cork beautician, Ms Rachel Kiely, feared for his safety last Monday night after the man returned to his surgery and tried to attack him with a butcher's boning knife.
Dr Pat Lee told Cork District Court yesterday the 33-year-old man walked into his surgery in Ballincollig, Co Cork, as he was treating a male patient and lunged at him with a knife.
"I was extremely fearful for my life. If the surgery had been empty at the time I don't know what the outcome would have been.
"I got the injury [to his hand] trying to stop him from impaling me with his knife," he said.
The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with assault causing harm to Dr Lee, being threatening and carrying a butcher's boning knife.
The accused was one of a handful of local men blood tested for the purpose of DNA linkage during the investigation in to the murder of Ms Kiely two years ago.
An 18-year-old man was recently jailed for the murder and rape of the young woman at the Regional Park, Ballincollig, Cork, on October 26th, 2000.
Ms Kiely was accosted as she was out walking her dogs near her family home.
The defendant at Cork District Court yesterday was found not to be connected to the case.
However, the DNA testing he voluntarily provided at the time of the murder has resulted in him being sent forward to the Central Criminal Court on a charge of attempting to rape a woman in Cork a number of years ago.
The man said he was upset that his name had been mentioned at the Kiely murder trial.
He added that he had not meant to harm Dr Lee as he had nothing to do with the situation in which he now found himself.
He denied suggestions made by Insp Richard O'Reagan that he had threatened to have his revenge on Dr Lee for administering the blood samples in 2000.
Counsel for the defence, Mr Donal Daly, made an application to have his client released on bail yesterday.
However, Judge Con O'Leary refused to grant bail and remanded the accused man in custody to reappear at Cork District Court on July 2nd.