THE chief suspect for a hijacking in which a baby girl was driven away from her mum is a well-known north Dublin car thief.
He sped off in the woman’s Nissan Qashqai in the city’s Mountjoy Square area just before 2pm yesterday.
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The little girl’s mum had been retrieving a pram from the boot when a man jumped into the driver’s seat.
She confronted the thief but he pushed her away and drove off.
Thankfully the child was found “safe and well” just after 4pm.
‘WELL-KNOWN CAR THIEF’
The Irish Sun understands that the thief, after making off, tried unsuccessfully to use the woman’s bank card at a filling station in nearby Ballybough.
He then left the garage before the car was recovered.
The abandoned motor was found by a passing patrol car, with the tot still in the back seat, outside a North Richmond Street school in the north inner city.
One source said: “This man is a well-known car thief who has been involved in stolen cars for years.
“He is a drug addict and the suspicion is he was stealing this car so he could sell it on.
“This incident was all about him and he didn’t care that he had a baby in the car.”
‘VERY TRAUMATIC’
Superintendent Liam Geraghty said: “The suspect in this case is best described at this stage as a white, middle-aged male wearing dark clothing and a baseball cap.
“The baby girl was recovered at around 4.05pm. But, for just over two hours, she was missing from her parents.
“A very traumatic time for her mother and father.”
The top cop added: “To the best of our knowledge, there’s no connection between the suspect and the family.”
Gardai had earlier issued an alert saying they had serious concerns “that there was an immediate and serious risk to the health or welfare” of a baby.
All stations in the country were issued with the Child Rescue Alert.
The Gardai helicopter was scrambled as the operation got underway.
Gardai also pulled in CCTV in a bid to work out the car’s movements.
