A prominent Irish Republican Army veteran has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing his wife several times on Christmas Eve, an attack condemned by the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party, AP reported.
Police say Pearse McCauley tried to flee after they arrived at his family's rural home northwest of Dublin.
The victim, Pauline McCauley, was reported in stable condition Friday after suffering several wounds, including a collapsed lung. The high school teacher, who served as a Sinn Fein politician councilwoman from 1999 to 2012, met and married McCauley in 2003 while he was still imprisoned.
Pearse McCauley shot his way out of a London prison in 1991 and fled to Ireland. A decade later he was convicted of killing an Irish policeman during an attempted IRA robbery. He was granted parole in 2009.