due in court Man charged over alleged feud stabbing in Longford takeaway

A man is to appear in court in the morning charged in connection to an alleged feud related stabbing in Longford town yesterday that left another man with serious injuries in hospital.

The man, who is aged in his early 20s and from the Longford area, was arrested by detectives hours after an incident inside Luigis fastfood restaurant along the county town's main street shortly after 3pm.

He was brought to Granard garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act last night where he remained until being charged this evening.

He is due to appear before a sitting of Mullingar District Court in the morning.

The victim, a man in his early 20s was taken to Mullingar's Midland Regional Hospital with serious upper body injuries as a result of the incident.

A woman aged in her 20s, has since been released from custody after similarly being arrested by investigating officers yesterday evening.

She is suspected of being the alleged getaway driver with a flip flop believed to belong to the woman being found by gardaí at the scene a short time later.

A file will now be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to determine what charges, if any, can be brought against the woman.

Details of yesterday's incident is the latest in a long line of violent incidents to have spilled out onto the streets of Longford in recent weeks.

Local councillor and former Joint Policing Committee (JPC) chairman Seamus Butler said the only way to solve the recent upsurge in feud related incidents was through greater police visibility, tougher sentencing and additional resources being made available to gardaí.

"This is not just feuding, this is serious criminal violence," he said.

"These people need to be removed from the streets of Longford for as long as possible and the judiciary have a huge role to play in that."

"What we and this town needs is more resources and what's required is foot patrols to be carried out every working day in Longford."