Man armed with syringe carjacks young mother in hospital grounds
A MAN armed with a syringe attempted to carjack a grandmother and a young mother in two separate incidents at St James’s Hospital, Dublin, at the weekend.
A 52-year-old woman who was visiting her daughter described how she managed to shield her nine-month-old grand-daughter as she was approached by the man who tried to hijack her car in the underground car park. The thief instead stole a handbag in the incident.
Moments later, he attacked a young mother and stole her car. He sped from the hospital in the hijacked Skoda, crashing into another car and a security barrier before driving to nearby Rialto and torching the car. The first victim told the Irish
Independent how she feared the attacker would hurt or drive away with the baby.
“I had visited my daughter in the hospital, and I was at the car putting the baby into it when I heard a voice behind me,” she said.
“He said ‘get the baby out of the car’ and ‘give me the keys’ and I turned around and he was right beside me and I saw the needle in his hand.
“I stood between him and the baby because I was afraid he would stab her with the needle, I was screaming and I was all confused and in shock.
“The baby was playing with a key ring so I gave that to him, and then he grabbed my bag,” the victim said.
“We were both pulling the bag and the strap broke, and he ran around and jumped into the car.
“I suffer from epilepsy and thought I was going to have a seizure. I asked him if I could get my medication from the bag but he ignored me. I just had time to pull the baby out of the car as he jumped into the driver’s seat.”
The woman’s screaming alerted the attention of others.
“A woman in a car started blowing her horn, and then he got out of my car and ran. But then he attacked another woman who was getting into her car with her son and actually got her car and drove away,” the grandmother said.
In the second incident the attacker struggled with a young mother with her fiveyear-old son and pushed her to the ground, and took the car. The mother was later treated in St James’s for cuts and grazes.
As he sped away, the attacker crashed into another parked car and then drove straight through a barrier at the exit of the car park. The vehicle was later found burned out on Bonham Street. The first victim’s car, and the burned out remains of the second victim’s, are also being examined by garda experts.
The man was described in his late 20s or early 30s, small and spoke with a Dublin accent. Gardaí in Kilmainham are investigating both incidents. St James’s Hospital said it was helping gardaí with their investigations.