Is Waterford still safe at night?

friendlyfun · 13-07-2018 8:26pm #1

Just heard the awful news that the chap who was assaulted there last week died today.

Makes me concerned about going out on the town.

We really need to stop these incidents from happening. We are a purple flag city too! Remember?!!

aziz · 13-07-2018 8:34pm

That's terrible news,RIP

PTH2009 · 13-07-2018 8:46pm

Whats happening to the place

Very sad my prayers go to his family and friends.

13-07-2018 8:58pm

RIP but lets not get carried away here, one incident doesn't mean the town is "doing to the dogs". Waterford is a relatively safe city compared to other cities and unfortunately these incidents happen everywhere.

PTH2009 · 13-07-2018 9:01pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

RIP but lets not get carried away here, one incident doesn't mean the town is "doing to the dogs". Waterford is a relatively safe city compared to other cities and unfortunately these incidents happen everywhere.

True but should not be happening in the first place. A young gifted musician gone because of a cowardly attack by someone prob under the influence of god knows what

friendlyfun · 13-07-2018 9:05pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

RIP but lets not get carried away here, one incident doesn't mean the town is "doing to the dogs". Waterford is a relatively safe city compared to other cities and unfortunately these incidents happen everywhere.

This is not just one isolated If you're trying to present it like so. It's a number of incidents that have happened in the area. One being a high profile murder that took place on Newsteet. Also someone stabbed in the head about two months ago outside Apache.

There's a failure in preventing assaults from happening in the John Street/Manor area. There should have been guards on the beat

s7ryf3925pivug · 13-07-2018 9:35pm

It was a sh!thole between 97 and 02 anyway.

Max Powers · 13-07-2018 9:44pm

About as safe as anywhere in Ireland, fella stabbed to death in mallow town couple days ago, limerick man stabbed few days before that..regular occurrence all over the country, seems to be different place every week. Dublin shootings every second weekend.Mallow, Waterford, Kilkenny, Dublin, wherever....younger lads need to realise consequences of their actions and the level of violence they carry out....that's not happening...justice system a complete joke.

Johnboy1951 · 13-07-2018 11:36pm

Max Powers wrote: »

About as safe as anywhere in Ireland, fella stabbed to death in mallow town couple days ago, limerick man stabbed few days before that..regular occurrence all over the country, seems to be different place every week. Dublin shootings every second weekend.Mallow, Waterford, Kilkenny, Dublin, wherever....younger lads need to realise consequences of their actions and the level of violence they carry out....that's not happening...justice system a complete joke.

It was not a lot different 50 years ago (except hand guns) ..... except now we are more exposed to news from areas other than we live in.
Add to that social media which causes lots of conversations about such events and our exposure to the news of the events is even greater.

Max Powers · 14-07-2018 9:35am

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

It was not a lot different 50 years ago (except hand guns) ..... except now we are more exposed to news from areas other than we live in.
Add to that social media which causes lots of conversations about such events and our exposure to the news of the events is even greater.

There was always occasional fights outside night clubs no doubt but in general knives weren't involved,in fairness knives probably still not massively involved when it comes to late night, drink fuelled violence but a group of lads attacking someone, kicks to head, there is a reasonable chance that that person could die, those who do that should be up for attempted murder IMO.a good chance of fatality if using knife.I can't understand why there isn't more people being sued, surely the cctv/witnesses is/are there, identify people, I would definitely have them in court. If people started going down for serious stretches then attitude might change.We have been saying it for decades about gardai should be in the main drinking areas after hours. I'm guessing its not in court as much as you would think because people have zero faith in the justice system.

Wanderer78 · 14-07-2018 9:40am

Max Powers wrote:

There was always occasional fights outside night clubs no doubt but in general knives weren't involved,in fairness knives probably still not massively involved when it comes to late night, drink fuelled violence but a group of lads attacking someone, kicks to head, there is a reasonable chance that that person could die, those who do that should be up for attempted murder IMO.a good chance of fatality if using knife.I can't understand why there isn't more people being sued, surely the cctv/witnesses is/are there, identify people, I would definitely have them in court. If people started going down for serious stretches then attitude might change.We have been saying it for decades about gardai should be in the main drinking areas after hours. I'm guessing its not in court as much as you would think because people have zero faith in the justice system.

'long stretches' probably wouldnt do much for crime prevention, many humans show little or no reaction to such things, it's a highly reactive method of crime prevention

Johnboy1951 · 14-07-2018 10:17am

Wanderer78 wrote: »

'long stretches' probably wouldnt do much for crime prevention, many humans show little or no reaction to such things, it's a highly reactive method of crime prevention

it does tend to remove dangerous elements from our society, though, which of itself is a welcome outcome.

whether or not it incites the criminal to change their ways, and become an acceptable member of society in the long term, is a different matter, and to me, that must take second place to protecting the rest of society from the criminal behaviour.

I would like to see a 'three strikes' kind of scheme where only 'violent' crime is taken into account, such as fighting even though no serious injury occurred etc..

Generally speaking, I expect that a stabbing or killing is not the first violent crime committed by these criminals. It is possible they could be 'weeded out' of society much earlier in their 'criminal career' and thus save lives and threats to society, by using such a scheme.

Wanderer78 · 14-07-2018 10:23am

Johnboy1951 wrote:

it does tend to remove dangerous elements from our society, though, which of itself is a welcome outcome.

Crime is a very complicated one, of course all in society must be protected, but I suspect we re not approaching this one correctly, our current methods are failing in many ways, but of course there are success stories to, incarceration doesn't seem to have much influence in reducing crime or certain crimes, you will find common issues amongst prison populations though, we must become more proactive in dealing with these complex issues, to try prevent crimes in the first place.

Johnboy1951 · 14-07-2018 11:23am

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Crime is a very complicated one, of course all in society must be protected, but I suspect we re not approaching this one correctly, our current methods are failing in many ways, but of course there are success stories to, incarceration doesn't seem to have much influence in reducing crime or certain crimes, you will find common issues amongst prison populations though, we must become more proactive in dealing with these complex issues, to try prevent crimes in the first place.

Not only our methods ...... in fact I am not aware of any methods that have been truly successful in my lifetime.

Yes of course, crime prevention should be the larger part of any 'method' that is designed to be beneficial to society.
But that is easily said, and not so easily enacted.
So society continues to have to deal with 'crime prevention' failures.

bekosam · 14-07-2018 11:43am

Honestly, after this latest murder I don't feel as comfortable going out as I used to. It's always near John street too. I couple of months back a friend of a friend was beat to f**k outside Thirsty Scholar "just because". The last couple of years when I hear about muggings, stabbings and murders it's always around John street. And to think I like to walk home alone. These lads need to be locked up for life. And I'm tired of hearing about "young man with 20 previous convictions gets suspended sentence." Nah, they need to be made an example of.

Johnboy1951 · 14-07-2018 12:09pm

bekosam wrote: »

Honestly, after this latest murder I don't feel as comfortable going out as I used to. It's always near John street too. I couple of months back a friend of a friend was beat to f**k outside Thirsty Scholar "just because". The last couple of years when I hear about muggings, stabbings and murders it's always around John street. And to think I like to walk home alone. These lads need to be locked up for life. And I'm tired of hearing about "young man with 20 previous convictions gets suspended sentence." Nah, they need to be made an example of.

Maybe if suspension of sentence could only be applied to non-violent crime, and add to that a repeat offender can get twice the normal range of sentence, we might have less of these thugs on our streets.

14-07-2018 1:02pm

I go into town fairly regularly and I haven't had a bother. Although I can see how things get fairly messy late at night.

One would have to wonder would we be better to have staggered finishing times in pubs/clubs

Wanderer78 · 14-07-2018 1:04pm

914 wrote: »

I go into town fairly regularly and I haven't had a bother. Although I can see how things get fairly messy late at night.

One would have to wonder would we be better to have staggered finishing times in pubs/clubs

would 24 hour opening hours help with this staggering?

Harry Palmr · 14-07-2018 1:06pm

I imagine if the assaults that occur were represented in a grid by time and place almost all of them would be within a couple of squares. We all know the times and places to avoid if possible.

Johnboy1951 · 14-07-2018 1:12pm

Harry Palmr wrote: »

I imagine if the assaults that occur were represented in a grid by time and place almost all of them would be within a couple of squares. We all know the times and places to avoid if possible.

and we equally know such times and places should not exist

deisechap09 · 14-07-2018 1:19pm

Regardless of staggered finish times etc, theres too many scumbags out looking for fights over nothing. It really is getting worse and worse in Waterford.
I usually go out in Dublin as I work there and feel much safer after hours than when home in Waterford.

PTH2009 · 14-07-2018 1:32pm

dont the guards have a huge camrea room in the station with angles from all main nightclub/pub streets ???.Is it the case of all our main places been in the one area and in a place croweded with steps and other stuff ???

From the stories going on around it was a case of been in the wrong place at the wrong time for the poor guy.

I have a habit of walking home alone after a few drinks but might have to change that a bit for the future.

mooseknunkle · 14-07-2018 2:17pm

PTH2009 wrote: »

dont the guards have a huge camrea room in the station with angles from all main nightclub/pub streets ???.Is it the case of all our main places been in the one area and in a place croweded with steps and other stuff ???

From the stories going on around it was a case of been in the wrong place at the wrong time for the poor guy.

I have a habit of walking home alone after a few drinks but might have to change that a bit for the future.

He wasnt in the wrong place at the wrong time,he was walking home and backed away from an argument he was doing everything that a young man would be doing on a Saturday night,you're wrong place argument doesn't hold any weight here.

RIP to Damien 'O Brien,this has to be one of the most senseless deaths in Waterford that i can remember ,such a waste of a talented young man out enjoying himself.

Wanderer2010 · 14-07-2018 4:30pm

I would never ever choose to be outside the Manor Street/Johns Street area after dark and especially when the clubs close. Its a pure powder keg about to erupt- you have all the drunk and drugged up lads, a lot of them pure scumbags, mixing together in chippers etc and fights are bound to happen. They are a new breed now though, just fearless and not at all put off by the Guards. I know back in late 90s early 2000s there might have been a fight but it was generally hot air and no weapons were involved. Now there are stabbings almost weekly, its a very dangerous place to be now in Ireland if going out and about.

Not helped when you hear "Person released without charge" very depressing for the family to hear those words. Life means nothing at all these days.

Poor Uncle Tom · 15-07-2018 9:07pm

The streets of Waterford are seriously scummy after 11.00pm. Yes, Waterford is far more dangerous now than 30 years ago. There were a lot more people renting and living in the city centre 30 years ago and as a result there was a lot more regular locals as well as more garda patrols out and about back then, than there are now.

thomasm · 15-07-2018 9:41pm

As earlier poster said if you kick someone in the head it should be a charge of attempted murder with minimum sentence. Too many cases of ‘people’ with 50 plus convictions going to court, getting lenient sentence and out in no time due to over crowding.

We have loads of suggestions for crime prevention but building new prisons never seems to be one of them for some reason. Surely for a return on money spent /vote getter this one must be right up there for a govt party or aspiring candidate

15-07-2018 10:17pm

thomasm wrote: »

As earlier poster said if you kick someone in the head it should be a charge of attempted murder with minimum sentence. Too many cases of ‘people’ with 50 plus convictions going to court, getting lenient sentence and out in no time due to over crowding.

We have loads of suggestions for crime prevention but building new prisons never seems to be one of them for some reason. Surely for a return on money spent /vote getter this one must be right up there for a govt party or aspiring candidate

Did the poor guy who died get kicked in the head?

thomasm · 15-07-2018 10:24pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Did the poor guy who died get kicked in the head?

Don’t know, was talking in general

15-07-2018 10:33pm

thomasm wrote: »

Don’t know, was talking in general

Oh ok. I do agree, kicking someone in the head when they are down is attempted murder in my book.

Deise Vu · 16-07-2018 11:17am

Ah yes, Waterford 30 years ago was full of manly young men holding doors open for each other as they entered their local hostelry for a jovial evening of song and a bit of harmless craic.

Lads, I would walk naked and blindfolded down John Street at midnight holding fistfuls of 50's before I would share the city with beauts like Jimmy Dilldoll again:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/two-waterford-men-jailed-in-london-for-killing-epileptic-1.53892

In common with any large population centre we have always had the occasional psycho, there is nothing out of the ordinary in the general scheme of things. (We should still jail the fcukers first chance we get, mind).

Max Powers · 16-07-2018 11:28am

Deise Vu wrote: »

Ah yes, Waterford 30 years ago was full of manly young men holding doors open for each other as they entered their local hostelry for a jovial evening of song and a bit of harmless craic.

Lads, I would walk naked and blindfolded down John Street at midnight holding fistfuls of 50's before I would share the city with beauts like Jimmy Dilldoll again:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/two-waterford-men-jailed-in-london-for-killing-epileptic-1.53892

In common with any large population centre we have always had the occasional psycho, there is nothing out of the ordinary in the general scheme of things. (We should still jail the fcukers first chance we get, mind).

Occasional psycho.....brilliant, accurate but brilliant. Just to further underline the non uniqueness of what happened in mallow, Waterford, wherever, some 70 year old man was killed by someone in their 40s over the weekend somewhere else, more violence...every week...

TheQuietFella · 16-07-2018 4:25pm

mooseknunkle wrote: »

He wasnt in the wrong place at the wrong time,he was walking home and backed away from an argument he was doing everything that a young man would be doing on a Saturday night.

How do you know the circumstances leading to his death or are you just surmising?

Max Powers · 16-07-2018 7:44pm

TheQuietFella wrote: »

How do you know the circumstances leading to his death or are you just surmising?

I agree with moose although I'd guess both of us don't know what happened but, under no circumstances should being in the busiest location in the city centre be described as 'just wrong place/time'..I think throwaway comments like wrong place/time are ridiculous and are really a kind of false excuse of a reason for this tragedy.I know nobody said it to mean like that but thats the way we sweep it under the carpet.
End of day, some scumbags are to blame in all likelihood, the lack of gardai in area, pathetic justice system etc etc and even why is there not clear cctv of the culprit is to blame.

StringerBell · 18-07-2018 12:03pm

I've seen the CCTV, there was no kick in the head. There was a sucker punch and another one while the guy was on his way down already, he then hit his head hard on the concrete. He was completely defenseless for the attack and there is nothing on the camera I saw to suggest he did anything to provoke it. The name of the attacker is not public as far as I know so I won't use his name but I hope he gets the book thrown at him.

spikadelica · 24-07-2018 1:57am

friendlyfun wrote: »

[Deleted User] wrote: »

RIP but lets not get carried away here, one incident doesn't mean the town is "doing to the dogs". Waterford is a relatively safe city compared to other cities and unfortunately these incidents happen everywhere.

This is not just one isolated If you're trying to present it like so. It's a number of incidents that have happened in the area. One being a high profile murder that took place on Newsteet. Also someone stabbed in the head about two months ago outside Apache.

There's a failure in preventing assaults from happening in the John Street/Manor area. There should have been guards on the beat

Too busy mounting the 8 Garda barricade across the entrance to new Applemarket

StringerBell · 24-07-2018 4:17pm

Any news on the incident Saturday night in an apartment on John Street? Rumoured stabbing, crime scene guys were there early Sunday morning anyway but have heard nothing about it since.

PTH2009 · 26-07-2018 10:24am

Another fatal stabbing in the county. 25 year old man killed in Dunmore east

https://www.rte.ie/news/munster/2018/0726/981149-dunmore-east/

eeloe · 26-07-2018 11:37am

This is really getting out of hand now!

Flow Motion · 26-07-2018 4:57pm

Its a sign of the times to be sure. Sometimes I think that the publicity shown and given in the media to knife crimes/stabbings seems to escalate the problem. A self fulfilling prophecy perhaps? Still though its a bit strange and unnerving that the younger generation have turned towards the knife/blade as a means of protection, self-defence and violence. Is it the easy access to violent imagery via TV/films/internet or what? Scary thing is that the next step on the slippery scale is guns. Who is to say in 20 years time that this weapon won't be as available as the knife?

Nevertheless there are a lot of lives being ruined by a moment of madness. Both the victim and the perpetrator. Maybe it has got to the point where the people of Waterford have to take a stand. Most people are law abiding citizens and only want to lead a safe, happy comfortable existence. Years back when New York was the most dangerous place on earth a group of citizens formed a group called the 'Guardian Angels' - an unarmed crime prevention vigilantes. Perhaps Waterford needs its own chapter?

Not to say Waterford was once a rose tinted garden where everyone always got on. Its inherent the nature of man to resort to his ancient animalistic ways. The laws of the jungle remain implanted deep in the darkest depth of the brain. Did most of my young socialising from the early 90's to the late 00's. The early period had most people in Breens [The Bridge Hotel]. There was always the odd fight and a big brawl once in a blue moon. Similarly outside Supermacs. Somewhere along the way the nightclubs were dotted around town so people were naturally dispersed throughout the town. Over the years is slowly became centralised and now John's Street is the focus. Also you would have to factor in the club culture of the 90's/00's : ecstasy was the drug of choice and I reckon all the head de balls/toughnuts in town were dropping tons of it. Hence they mellowed out and there wasnt much aggro around imo. With the Celtic Tiger cocaine became the drug of choice and anyone who has seen the film 'Scarface' will see the consequences. Then the Recession sent many of the same folk into an abyss of heroin. Maybe its all just a tenuous link but surely it is some way linked.

kuang1 · 27-07-2018 12:20am

eeloe wrote: »

This is really getting out of hand now!

I would never belittle anyone's life being taken, but a response like this is 100% hyperbolic.

So what are we to believe... Everyone who lives anywhere in Co. Waterford right now is in danger of losing their life.??? Randomly??

Shut your truck up, research a little behind these specific stories, and gain a little perspective please.
Bad sh1te happens all over the world all the time. Even in the finest of societies.

My heart goes out to everyone involved on both sides of this.
But we are no more "in danger" than we were last week.

Poor Uncle Tom · 27-07-2018 8:26am

kuang1 wrote: »

I would never belittle anyone's life being taken, but a response like this is 100% hyperbolic.

So what are we to believe... Everyone who lives anywhere in Co. Waterford right now is in danger of losing their life.??? Randomly??

Shut your truck up, research a little behind these specific stories, and gain a little perspective please.
Bad sh1te happens all over the world all the time. Even in the finest of societies.

My heart goes out to everyone involved on both sides of this.
But we are no more "in danger" than we were last week.

I find this extremely offensive, how many lives need to be taken before it's acceptable to you for someone to say "it's really getting out of hand"? It is only when people stand up and say enough is enough that things will change.

How dare you tell someone expressing outrage at a killing to "shut the truck up"!

Your entire post underscores its first half sentence as a lie, hollow words expressed so you can go on to attempt to belittle the loss of a life by attacking someone expressing outrage in a simple sentence at the fact that somebody has been killed.

What is your solution to the amount of violence in our community? Wait for superman to swoop in and catch the baddies? Stand up and shout that it's getting out of hand and we have enough? Oh, wait, no, your preferred option is to lie back and say, meh! and tell anyone willing to express outrage to "shut the truck up".

friendlyfun · 29-07-2018 11:00am

Lot of people here are trying to downplaying crime. That's two violent murders we had within a month. One was the result of an ongoing feud and one happened at one of the busiest intersections in the city under the view of Garda cameras.

I think people accusing anybody of hypeberbolethere are just being disingenuous.

This "sure look it it happens everywhere" attitude" isn't good enough. Burying your head in sand so it is.

PPN2893 · 04-08-2018 4:41am

Not to diminish the previous crimes mentioned in this thread but I've just had a minor altercation near Manor Road, so nope, I wouldn't say it's safe at night at all anymore.

PTH2009 · 04-08-2018 12:55pm

PPN2893 wrote: »

Not to diminish the previous crimes mentioned in this thread but I've just had a minor altercation near Manor Road, so nope, I wouldn't say it's safe at night at all anymore.

U ok ??

Bank holiday weekends always bring out the dickheads

eagle eye · 04-08-2018 1:03pm

I was only ever in Waterford once and was in a night club when a guy I hadn't looked at or spoken to smashed a pint glass on the side of my head. He was a foreigner.

PPN2893 · 04-08-2018 1:07pm

PTH2009 wrote: »

U ok ??

Bank holiday weekends always bring out the dickheads

Short version is I think I encountered someone who might have been following home drunk people hoping to pick off stragglers. For context, I'm a woman. Thankfully I wasn't a drunk girl walking home alone. I just woke up ridiculously early and decided to pop to the 24 hour garage to get milk as I'd ran out the night before. Angry shouting and winding my good arm back for a punch got him to **** off.

Hoffmans · 06-08-2018 9:06pm

Huge pool of blood and splatter on new street , looks like a scene from saw vðŸ˜®

Poor Uncle Tom · 06-08-2018 9:12pm

Hoffmans wrote: »

Huge pool of blood and splatter on new street , looks like a scene from saw vðŸ˜®

Waterford is just going through a rough period. .

JimWinters · 07-08-2018 8:38am

Hoffmans wrote: »

Huge pool of blood and splatter on new street , looks like a scene from saw vðŸ˜®

With drips of blood all the way from there, through John St and out to the Mansion House where there's another pool of blood. The guards were all over it on Sunday night following the trail with their torches and another 3 of them standing over the blood at the mansion for ages. Heard rumours of another assault but there were no crime scene technicians or anything like that around so must be nothing??

PTH2009 · 07-08-2018 12:46pm

So what we have too offer in our main pub/nightclub hub

The Hub- decent pub
Kazbar- can be packed
Geoffs
Heerys
Market bar
Shortts- A nightmare on weekends, place is so packed and deff goes over capacity
Project Waterford
Revolution- something about the place makes me feel uncomfortable
Sinnotts- prob the best nightclub in the city
Woodman- grand place
Thirsty Scholar

Reg up the road too

A lot of people coming out of crowded places at a similar time.

Flow Motion · 07-08-2018 12:51pm

PTH2009 wrote: »

So what we have too offer in our main pub/nightclub hub
Revolution- something about the place makes me feel uncomfortable

Could never really take to this place in all its forms down thru the years as I will always think of it as Eddie Rocketts! Dont like the design or layout inside either.

Is Waterford still safe at night?

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