A VIOLENT stabbing attack in Dublin city centre yesterday was caused by “a row over a girl”, an eyewitness has said she believed.
The man, aged 25 and believed to be from Blanchardstown in north Dublin, was attacked on George’s Quay near Tara Street train station shortly before midday.
He was taken to St James’s Hospital, where he was operated on and was later in a stable condition.
The busy junction and parts of the south quays were closed to traffic for the afternoon while a Garda investigation team examined the area.
It is understood the weapon was thrown into the river Liffey.
An eyewitness to the incident said the man was set upon by at least four men and was beaten before being stabbed.
She said she was talking to the victim and some friends on the corner of Tara Street and George’s Quay when a group of men approached. “We were all just standing there talking – it just happened out of the blue.
“They came up behind him and some of them said: ‘I’ll back you up, I’ll back you up,’ and they started digging him,” she said.
The man fell to the ground and his attackers began to kick him in the face, but he managed to get up. “When he got up and turned his back one man started stabbing him.”
She said the victim managed to run away from his attackers down the quays and was chased for a short time before the man with the knife decided to dispose of it.
“He came across the road and threw the knife into the Liffey and then ran across the bridge,” the eyewitness said.
The victim then walked back to where his friends had gathered.
“He took off his jacket and the blood squirted out, and he collapsed on to the ground,” she said.
The victim was removed by ambulance to St James’s Hospital.
The eyewitness said she believed the victim knew his attackers. “Young fellas fighting over a girl – it was a row over a girl,” she said.
Gardaí from Pearse Street station are investigating the attack.
A spokeswoman said the victim received a number of wounds to his upper body, but his injuries were not life-threatening.
Gardaí would like to talk to anybody who was in the Tara Street Dart station/Georges Quay/Burgh Quay/Tara Street/Hawkins Street area of yesterday between 11am and noon to contact them, she said.
