Garda appeal after woman suffers serious head injuries in Cork city assault
Gardaí have appealed for witnesses after a woman known to the homeless services in Cork city suffered serious head injuries in an assault.
Detectives are now trying to piece together her exact movements in the hours before the attack, and to identify who she was with before she was discovered unconscious on a street near the city’s train station at around 9.30pm on Monday.
The victim is in her 30s and originally from the northside of the city.
And while she has an address on the southside now, she is known to avail of the services of various homeless agencies in the city.
It’s believed that she may have spent some time before the assault around the Anderson’s Quay area, close to the Cork Simon emergency shelter, and that she may have crossed the northern channel of the river Lee over Michael Collins bridge.
It’s believed that she may also have spent time in and around the Alfred St area and near Kent railway station before she was was found seriously injured.
Gardaí said they got a call at around 9.30pm that there was a woman lying unconscious on Railway Street - a narrow street which links Penrose Quay to the Lower Glanmire Road.
It runs between two major docklands development sites - Penrose Dock on the western side and the HQ development on the eastern side.
She had suffered serious head injuries following an apparent beating.
Emergency services rushed to the scene and treated her there before she was brought by ambulance to Cork University Hospital (CUH) where her condition deteriorated overnight.
She was initially listed as critical as doctors worked to stem bleeding in her brain.
However, it is understood that her condition improved slightly as the night wore on and she was listed as serious but stable this morning.
Gardaí sealed off the scene of the incident for a detailed forensic examination by members of the divisional scenes of crime unit while uniformed gardaí began harvesting CCTV from a number of premises in the area.
But gardaí have issued a specific appeal for anyone who was in that area of the city between 8pm and 10pm on Monday night, and especially anyone with dashcam footage, to contact them.
They want to speak to anyone who was in, or who passed through the Anderson’s Quay area, who used Railway Street, Alfred Street and who may have been in Kent Railway Station, between 8pm and 10pm, to contact Mayfield Garda Station on 021-4558510.
No arrests have been made and gardaí said the investigation is ongoing.
