A man arrested on suspicion he was responsible for an assault on a woman in St Stephen’s Green on Tuesday is also being questioned about other assaults on two men in the city centre on Wednesday.
The Irish Times understands the attacks are being treated as random incidents, with no clear motive involved for targeting the three victims ahead of other people in St Stephen’s Green when the assaults were carried out.
The first, on a woman in her 50s, took place in St Stephen’s Green at about 4.15pm on Tuesday. The woman was badly injured and shaken by the experience and was taken by ambulance to St James’s Hospital with a suspected broken nose.
The two male victims were attacked in a second incident on Wednesday and gardaí believe the same person was responsible. The man currently being questioned is the main suspect.
He was being detained at Pearse St Garda station on Wednesday night under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984. Gardaí are permitted to question him for up to 24 hours without charge. The suspect has no fixed address and has been staying of late in a hostel in Dublin’s south inner city very close to the scenes of the attacks.
The investigation into the apparently linked incidents was continuing on Wednesday night with CCTV from the area being studied to determine if it places the suspect at the scenes of the two attacks 24 hours apart.
Gardaí have also seized a number of items from the arrested men and have called to the hostel where he was staying as part of the criminal investigation.
