Gardaí follow final investigation into ramming of Brazilian food delivery man in Cork

Gardaí are following a clear line of inquiry in their investigation into the ramming of a 23-year-old Brazilian Deliveroo driver on Halloween night in Cork by a gang of car thieves.

Investigators obtained good descriptions of the two men from Alexandre Athos Pinhero Teixeira, 23, and two other men who had separate interactions with them, also on October 31.

Mr Teixeira suffered a complicated leg fracture when the car thieves drove towards him in a stolen Skoda Kodiaq after chasing him from Mahon to Beaumont on the south side of Cork at 11.50pm.

They caught up with him at the intersection of Beaumont Lawn and Woodvale Road, where they knocked him off his Honda 125. One of the men then got out of the car and attacked him.

“They knocked me off the bike with the car, but at that time I was not injured yet. I was doing well,” said Mr Teixeira, who is also an English student, as he recounted how he defended himself when a man punched him.

The man then got back into the stolen Skoda and the driver drove the car towards him. He became trapped between the car and his motorcycle, causing a serious leg fracture.

Mr Teixeira’s description of the two men, aged in their mid-20s, matches those given to gardaí by two men who previously had separate encounters with the occupants of the stolen black Skoda on October 31.

( ‘I could have died’: Food delivery driver in shock after being attacked in CorkOpens in a new window )

At 11pm a man disturbed the pair as they tried to break into cars on Little Island, five miles from the city. When he confronted them, they drove toward him as they fled.

At 6am the morning of the same day, another man disturbed two men trying to break into a car in Ballinlough, on the city’s south side. They threatened him with a knife before driving away.

Gardaí were alerted after the attack on Mr Teixeira, and members of the force based in Gurranabraher were rammed into their patrol car as they tried to stop the thieves on the Old Mallow Road outside the town.

The car thieves fled and the Skoda, which was stolen from Courtbrack on October 21, was found burnt out in Carrignavar, 12km north of Cork city, on Friday morning.

Gardaí have started checking CCTV footage along the routes into Carrignavar from the town, while they have also collected CCTV footage from Little Island, Mahon, Beaumont and Ballinlough.

Garda sources said they are following up on descriptions of the two perpetrators by Mr Teixeira and the other men, while also trying to track down a woman who was with them in Beaumont.