American tourist is slashed in the face with a box cutter by rapist in random attack
CCTV footage showed violent pervert James Fitzgerald being stabbed moments before he armed himself with a box cutter and slashed innocent tourist's face in case of 'mistaken identity'
A VICIOUS rapist has slashed an American man with a box cutter - after the tourist intervened when the rapist himself was attacked while begging on the street.
These exclusive CCTV images show the moment pervert James Fitzgerald, who has 134 previous convictions, was attacked by a mystery assailant - which led to his own violent outburst.
Arming himself with a razor blade, Fitzgerald hunted down visitor Sebastian List and his girlfriend then sliced open his face and ear.
The man, seen walking with a woman, stops and stabs homeless Fitzgerald while he is sitting begging on a pavement in Dublin.
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Fitzgerald manages to flee - running inside a Centra store while his assailant is confronted by innocent tourist Sebastian.
But when Fitzgerald emerges from the shop - he runs back to his belongings, arming himself with a box cutter.
CCTV footage then shows him running after Sebastian, where off-camera, he launched his vicious attack - cutting a five inch laceration along Sebastian's cheek to the back of his head.
Gardai are still hunting for Fitzgerald’s attacker after failing to get a positive ID on him.
A source said: "This was a brutal and totally unjustified knife attack.
"Mr List was trying to help Fitzgerald yet he was still subjected to a horrific assault.
"Fitzgerald was out of it on heroin and attacked Mr List in the mistaken belief he had been responsible for stabbing him.
"Thankfully he was caught and is now off the streets and can't cause any more damage."
The heroin addict - who also has convictions for rape, possessing knives, assault and theft - was nabbed at Pearse Street Dart Station. In a nearby bin, cops found the box cutter used to attack the tourist. This had traces of Fitzgerald’s DNA on it.
Fitzgerald will spend just one year behind bars for the vicious knife attack after he was caged at Dublin Circuit Court last month.
He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years, back-dated to April 2015 when he first went into custody.
During his case, Fitzgerald’s barrister told how his client was using two or three bags of heroin daily.
Fitzgerald was previously a target for gardai under Operation Pier, launched to combat city-centre crime and anti-social behaviour.
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