Terrified

LegacyUser

Hey guys
I abruptly came home earlier from a festival as im scared
The night started out great. Having a laugh with the girls, dancing, singing down the road on the way down.
So we are down enjoying the festival when we passed 2 girls fighting. One girl pulled a special needs woman who was about 30 to the ground and abused her with a gang of scumabags.
After a while..i forgot about it - until me n my very drunk friends were passing up there again.
i saw the special needs girl stumbling - until i realised she was running from 10 scumbags who then shoved her up against a wall, holding both her arms up while about 4 guys beat the crap out of her back. She moaned for help as i think she had difficulty talking.
After a while the gardai sorted them out. Then..she collapsed.
And i was standing there. Terrified as i was a witness to guys i knew from school, beat a disabled woman.

Im scared and feel like crying. Im terrified as another girl i knew was a victim of an attack.....i think im in shock. and why the hell did i just stand there watching in shock? why didnt i get help - im so mad at myself ....
has the world gone mad?

Zeouterlimits

Have you spoken to Gardai at all? It's not too late to go to the station and give a statement, it will help, both the case and your conscience.

As for why you stood there, it's normal to freeze in moments of horror like that, especially when there are ferocious, violent people involved. Not getting involved was self-protection.
If it bothers you, promise yourself that you won't do it again, and stick to it. If it happens again, try to remember how you felt this time.

The poor woman ...

Cheap Thrills!

Oh my God that is TERRIBLE. I'm not suprised you are in bits. Look, you were in shock and how could you have taken on 10 scumbags like that anyway.

Those people can NOT be let get away with this. Do the Guards know who it was?

You need to speak to someone who can help you. You sound traumatised yourself and I'm not suprised. Also you need to speak to the Guards, I know you are scared.....I'm sure you can do so confidentially...

Meanwhile, can you confide in your parents or a sibling/friend?

I really hope the poor woman will be ok and you too.

LegacyUser

the guards know. they came over and sorted it out. They know who did it. But when they were helping the woman, the fella i know who gave her the most digs, after running off, strolled back checking out the damage, minus the hoody. it was sickening and weird.
but then the woman collapsed...so it was a minute too late.
it was horrible.
it scares me that people cant go out anymore without violence.. i mean, people cant walk around without a few digs??
and their the only ones i know of..
im shocked but at the same time, i havent been down at that festival since 2008 and now, i probably seeing what i couldnt when i was 16/17. believing sure, why would people attack me? i keep to myself and im a girl. well, was woken up last night. they beat a disabled woman.
its put me off going out at night now.

degrassinoel

tell the guards who it was.

You cant let this little scumbag away with what he did, if he's already beating up special needs people, whats he going to do next?

Fox McCloud

Go to the guards and give a statement. They need every shred of evidence if they want to prosecute the pricks that did this.

It is normal to freeze up when faced with a crisis, there have been studies done that show humans are liable to stand and stare in an emergency rather than act and save themselves, its like something switches off in your brain.. I'm rambling here I'l get back on topic, if you still feel bad about this the best thing to do is go to the guards and tell them exactly who and what you saw. They wont judge you for not helping at the time, they understand how dangerous these situations can get. If you dont want the guys to know you made a statement against them explain to the guards you know them and would be scared of them.

Zen65

Terrified wrote: »

i think im in shock. and why the hell did i just stand there watching in shock? why didnt i get help - im so mad at myself ....

You are in shock, of course. Real world violence is not like the TV nor X-Box, and knowing what to do is not the same as having the presence of mind to do it. Also be aware that you will remember an incident like this as if you had been watching it for some time, even if the reality is that it only lasted a few seconds.

So now you have a choice. You can try to bury this incident in your head like it never happened, or you can go around living in fear, or you can choose to not be a victim by taking up a martial art class. The objective is not to become the next Bruce Lee, but to train yourself to have an understanding of violence, so that if faced with that situation again (or even where you are the one being attacked) you will have the presence of mind to know what to do. There's any number of martial arts that can help you with this.. Judo, Karate, Kung Fu, Tao Kwon Do, MMA or Krav Maga to mention only a few.

As everybody else here has said, you should go to the Gardaí and make a statement in relation to the guys you recognised. Before you do, write down exactly what you saw, so you don't forget anything when you make the statement.

One of my sons was attacked in the street by a gang in broad daylight and wounded. Nobody intervened to help, but a witness did take a photo which helped the Gardaí to track down the attacker. Heroes are not just the people who leap in with flying fists to beat off an attacker (in fact such heroes are rare) ... the witness on that day was a hero for having the presence of mind to photograph the attacker. He knew if he intervened in the fight himself he would have been injured too, so self-preservation was the right course for him, but his action has helped my son and our family get over the incident and helped the Gardaí make an arrest.

Stop being mad at yourself. Your time for heroics is only starting.


Be at peace,


Z

Karmafaerie

OP, as all above have said, freezing is perfectly natural.
Your body and mind just go into shock.

As for the ordeal itself, as bad as this is, you can't allow one incident to shade your outlook.
As horrible as these people are, there are many more peopl, like yourself, that are horrified by this.

You need to accept that there are people like this, and look out for them, but don't allow it to cloud your opinion everyone like.

Eve_Dublin

God I feel nauseous after reading your post. That's just horrible I don't know how I'd feel if I was in your shoes, OP. I've probably been lucky that I've never seen anything that bad and would generally think most people are decent but when I hear stories like that, I wonder am I naive? I hope not. I'm really sorry you had to see what you saw OP. Usually when I hear something like this, I'm more concious of making an effort to be a decent person to compensate for these bastards. That's all you can do. I hope that poor woman is okay.