A five month old baby girl who went missing after the car she was in was hijacked in Dublin has been located “safe and well” in the city centre.
The girl was in the back of a silver Nissan Qashqai hatchback when it was stolen from Mountjoy Square West, Dublin 1, about 1.50pm, leading to a major alert.
The car, with the child still in it, was located parked on North Richmond Street, Dublin 1, shortly after 4pm by a garda unit on patrol and reunited with her parents soon thereafter.
“Obviously a very traumatic time for the mother and father with their baby girl gone missing like that but thankfully they were all reunited together shortly after 4pm,” Supt Liam Geraghty of the Garda Press Office told reporters at a briefing at Garda HQ.
There has been no arrest in the case, he said, and gardaí are harvesting CCTV footage in the area. They are appealing for any witnesses or people with dashcam or other footage from Mountjoy Square West or North Richmond Street at the times in question to get in contact with Mountjoy Garda station, where an incident room has been established.
“The suspect in this case is best described at this stage as a white middle-aged male wearing dark clothing and a baseball cap,” Supt Geraghty said.
The theft of the car had the appearance of an opportunistic crime but the gardaí were continuing to investigate, he said. “To the best of our knowledge there is no connection between the suspect and the family.”
Shortly after 3pm a public alert was issued, and at 4pm a formal child rescue Ireland alert was issued. An Garda Síochána said it wished to thank the public and media for their assistance after issuing the alert over her disappearance. The number for Mountjoy Garda station is 01 666 8600.