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Be careful in Eyre square

JJayoo

My friend just got assaulted and beaten pretty badly by a large group of scumbags in Eyre Square. This happened at approx 1am. He was on his own and was kicked badly while on the ground by the scumbags. One of the lads who taxis people around on the bikes ended up jumping in, and took a beating in the process of saving him. Gonna try and find this guy over next few days and thank him properly.

Cops witnessed it as they arrived on the scene. Most of the lads ran. They took the names and addresses of two of the scumbags, no proof of ID was required so they could have made up any name, and then they ran off. My friend was told to get up of the street and go home.

He went to millstreet to report the this and the fact that his phone and wallet had been stolen (we actualy found these Items later in the grass in Eyre square). In the station he was told to go home.

My mate is ok but very shaken. He will prob need a number of stitches so will go to the doctor tomorrow just to be on the safe side. He also has a number of deep bite marks.

To think that a group of scumbags have no issue with attacking and kicking the head of a lad in the middle of Eyre Square at 1am is pretty shocking. I would never have thought that something like this could happen in such a busy area at such a busy time.

The guy on the bike was a French lad and pretty much saved my friend.

Take home message: Please be careful when you are out, and try to avoid being on your own.

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shampoosuicide

"My friend was told to get up of the street and go home."

calling shenanigans on this.

sdanseo

If he needs stitches, he should be with a doc sooner rather than later.

kraggy

shampoosuicide wrote: »

"My friend was told to get up of the street and go home."

calling shenanigans on this.

I wouldn't call shenaningans on it.

JJayoo

I am not blaming the two cops, I mean what should they have done, chased down the two scumbags, possibly catch them? then what? hope they don't put up a fight.

I actually had to call the cops into work just before this happened. A guy was passed out in the toilet and I couldn't move him or get him to his feet. The guards showed up promptly, 6 of them in fact, and whisked him away in the van.

Some times I wonder have the guards just given up with dealing with scumbags, I mean moving some old drunk guy is fine, but whats the point in dealing with lads that already has 50 previous convictions.

The French taxi bike guy was a real hero, and took some damage to help a stranger.

Things like this really put me off going out in town. If i had heard this had happened down an alley at 4am I might not have been so suprised, but to happen at roughly 1am on the path which runs through Eyre Square, its just messed up.

The Scientician

I regularly get the late bus back to Dublin after gigs in the Róisín, and the worst part of the walk back is the Square. I tend not to walk down the middle unless there's nobody about and I walk fairly sharpish past that area of the town. A few times I've seen lads battering the heads off each other there on my way to the bus station. Other than that area Galway feels way safer than Dublin.

shampoosuicide

JJayoo wrote: »

I am not blaming the two cops, I mean what should they have done, chased down the two scumbags, possibly catch them? then what? hope they don't put up a fight.

I actually had to call the cops into work just before this happened. A guy was passed out in the toilet and I couldn't move him or get him to his feet. The guards showed up promptly, 6 of them in fact, and whisked him away in the van.

Some times I wonder have the guards just given up with dealing with scumbags, I mean moving some old drunk guy is fine, but whats the point in dealing with lads that already has 50 previous convictions.

The French taxi bike guy was a real hero, and took some damage to help a stranger.

Things like this really put me off going out in town. If i had heard this had happened down an alley at 4am I might not have been so suprised, but to happen at roughly 1am on the path which runs through Eyre Square, its just messed up.

you should be blaming them dude, that's absolutely disgraceful. i wasn't aware this was common, apparently it is judging by the other posts in this thread. if they can't deal with this kind of situation with something approaching responsibility what's the point of them? unbelievable. what if your friend had serious concussion and later collapsed? telling someone to get up and go home after getting their head kicked in, wow classy. and yet you'd no doubt get hauled under the coals for a bit of public urination.

this country.

this country.

zenno

The gardai are afraid most of the time zod love them, lazy bunch of fcuks most of them are but it doesn't surprise me either the way things are looking they are letting scumbags away with it and treating the victim as a piece of sh1t, what a lovely country we live in.

hope the guy is ok but as you said o.p it's always good to have a few mates with you. unfortunately this happens all over Ireland with single people getting attacked but most of them sh1tballs will get a bating themselves sooner than later.

Zillah

So hang on...they had two of them in their presence, knowing they had just assaulted someone, and instead of arresting them immediately they took names? If I was involved in this I would be knocking on the door of the following four places the next day:
- The local garda station, where I'd lodge a complaint with the most senior person I could get my hands on.
- City Hall.
- The garda ombudsman.
- Local paper.

In that order, depending on how good a response I got.

Totally disgusted.

That is all, of course, giving your story the benefit of the doubt, that your friend didn't instigate it in anyway.

biko

I'm always careful in Eyre Square at night. That do be where scumbags congregate.
The garda might already know these particular scumbags and as long as your friend wasn't badly hurt they'll just keep adding this to the offence list for these scrotes.

For the victim it's usually a life-changing experience, for the scumbag it's a moments diversion in an otherwise empty life. They probably wouldn't even recognise your mate if they met him again.

It was in Eyre Square Colm Phelan was killed by Barry and his friends in a unprovoked attack in 1996.

kippy

I am taking the story at face value here.
This is disgraceful. I'd be straight to the local papers.
While the cops probably get peeved off that judges tend to be too lenient on this sort of thing (multiple convictions etc) it still shouldnt mean that they let these guys get away with it. What happens next time these guys find a victim and there is no passerby to intervene. It doesnt take much for a fatal injury to occur in situation such as this.

I'd do what one of the previous posters mentioned - Garda station first, followed by City hall, garda ombudsman, council and then the local and indeed national papers.
Galway has a reputation of a safe city, only blighted now and again by a few sadly memorable incidents. This however would effect its image and something SHOULD be done about it.
I walk through that part of the square regular enough (sometimes late at night) and usually notice nothing out of the ordinary but then theres the wrong place wrong time thing that can happen to anyone anywhere.
I hope your friend isnt too badly injured and gets over the trauma of this and I hope I hear more about this in the local media.

headmaster

It's terrible what's now happening in Galway, it's going on all over the city. Fair play to the students union for doing away with rag week this year and shame on John Murray on RTE1 yesterday morning, telling the nation that being out of your head with drink and drugs was a right of passage for all students. This comment should be investigated by the authorities in RTE and although the exact words escape me, they were more or less as mentioned, this is indeed an unfortunate and despicable way for any presenter on our airwaves to behave and he should be immediatly be reprimanded for it. How does one go about reporting such behaviour to the people in RTE?

Sponge Bob

The cops would be right to tell someone who was in shock to get themselves home warm and safe as soon as, perhaps the communication itself was overly abrupt.

I have a strict and long running policy of not being in Eyre Square from 1am ( other than in the taxi office at the bottom perhaps) onwards because the bush and home drinkers come out of the eastern and western suburbs at that time for their nightly burger n scumbaggery fix.

The Scientician summed it all up perfectly a few posts back I am sorry to say. Stick to drinking somewhere safer in future, eg the West.

Anima

I hate hearing stuff like this but I guess that part of town is relatively quiet seeing as Cuba and Bar903 are gone.

I got a taxi with some guy a couple of weeks back and he got mugged at knife point close to the Cellar area around 1-2 am on a Saturday night. Unbelievable.

More vigilantes plz

galwaycyclist

This relates to the other thread on city parks. At the time the city officials were pushing their new urban vision for Eyre Square, an alternative vision was being proposed.

Restore the wrought iron railings that used to surround it, provide gates, and lock it at night. The idea was to create a Stephens Green style setting.

If you want to see what they were like, some of the old iron railings were used around St Nicholas' Church after they were pulled out of Eyre Square.

biko

There could/should be a Garda kiosk on the Square. That way a constant police presence in the city centre could be established.
Mill street isn't far off but when someone is getting jumped by scumbags Mill street is too far to run.

Simon Adebisi

biko wrote: »

I'm always careful in Eyre Square at night. That do be where scumbags congregate.
The garda might already know these particular scumbags and as long as your friend wasn't badly hurt they'll just keep adding this to the offence list for these scrotes.

For the victim it's usually a life-changing experience, for the scumbag it's a moments diversion in an otherwise empty life. They probably wouldn't even recognise your mate if they met him again.

It was in Eyre Square Colm Phelan was killed by Barry and his friends in a unprovoked attack in 1996.

I knew him. From my hometown of Roscrea. He got bottled and died when his head hit the ground. I love Galway but ive always been wary of Eyre Square since this happened.

dinneenp

The Scientician wrote: »

I regularly get the late bus back to Dublin after gigs in the Róisín.

On a side note- wow! I'm jealous of all the gigs in Dublin and think that Galway has very little live music that I like. Do most bands that play Galway not play Dublin as well?

biko

zenno wrote: »

The gardai are afraid most of the time zod love them, lazy bunch of fcuks most of them are

Don't use this thread as a chance to have a go at the AGS in general, thanks

Zillah

Sponge Bob wrote: »

I have a strict and long running policy of not being in Eyre Square from 1am

I lived just off Eyre Square for year, and I never had any real trouble. I did, however, always get the feeling that it was never far away when I was there at night.

It's funny how a place can just make you feel like it's a dodgy spot, even when there isn't necessarily anything bad happening at that time.

dinneenp

biko wrote: »

Don't use this thread as a chance to have a go at the AGS in general, thanks

That's what the 'have a go/rant at the AGS' thread is for.

Aiel

I see scumbags battering eachother in Eyre Sq in broad daylight nevermind at night,never a cop to be seen.They congregate around the back of the toilets and back of the tourist kiosk.Why is it you never see a group of them sitting out in the open grass but always beside a wall in the shadows?They just seem to be naturally drawn to those spots as if natural light might harm them:).

Mrs OBumble

OP, sorry to hear about your friend. +1 re the four doors approach, and if your friend isn't Irish, take an Irish friend with them.

The bite-marks sound particularly concerning. I heard a story from elsewhere about an apparently random attach that including biting.

Town did seem to be particularly manic last night. More shrieking and carry on than usual. Anyone else think that? Mr justMary picked up a story from a barman that Wednesday is now "student night", whatever that means.

Malice

biko wrote: »

It was in Eyre Square Colm Phelan was killed by Barry and his friends in a unprovoked attack in 1996.

Apologies for going off-topic but I'm just looking up some information on that case:

Fri 03 Mar 1997
2 charged in Galway killings

TWO Galway City men were charged with the manslaughter of a Tipperary man at a special sitting of Galway District Court last night.

Mr Jimmy Mongan (18) of Hillside Park, Ballybane, and Mr Gerry Barry (17) of St James Crescent, Mervue, were charged with the unlawful killing of Mr Colm Phelan (26) at Eyre Square on July 21st, 1996.

That's not the Gerald Barry who's currently serving a jail sentence for the murder of Manuela Riedo is it?

_Whimsical_

Very sorry to hear of your friends experience OP.I hope he recovers from the physical and psychological effects soon.

Its all terrible but bite marks is very disturbing. It's so vicious and dangerous too just in terms of transmission of disease. You'd think the person biting would first consider their own health before doing that. I hope your friend won't experience any health effects of it
Thanks for the warning OP.

Well done to whoever it was that stepped into help too.

_Whimsical_

Malice wrote: »

Apologies for going off-topic but I'm just looking up some information on that case:
That's not the Gerald Barry who's currently serving a jail sentence for the murder of Manuela Riedo is it?

I think it is.

shampoosuicide

Malice wrote: »

Apologies for going off-topic but I'm just looking up some information on that case:
That's not the Gerald Barry who's currently serving a jail sentence for the murder of Manuela Riedo is it?

"And, in the first of a litany of system failures, which ultimately ended with Barry raping and murdering the Swiss student on a strip of wasteland in Galway city, 17-year-old Barry was only found guilty of violent disorder in the killing of Colm Phelan, despite originally being charged with manslaughter. He was sentenced to five years, but served just two

Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/snqlcwqlcw/rss2/#ixzz1bKG7c1zt!"

again, this country. negligence from authority, from top to bottom.

the_syco

zenno wrote: »

but most of them sh1tballs will get a bating themselves sooner than later.

There's a group of people that are not untouchable by the Gardai, but more like "not worth touching". The last time someone I knew got in trouble with them, the nightclub staff led us up some stairs, though the attic, through the attic of a neighbouring hotel, through another hotel, and out onto the street some way away. We then got into a taxi to be driven down the road, to avoid the 2 lads who one of our group tripped into. That is, the 2 lads and his 20 uncles, cousins, brothers, etc.

Pointless going to the papers as even if you get some of them off the street, their families still live there, and a lot of them are not the law abiding types, so you'd have to watch your back. Heck, Gerald Barry got bail after violently raping someone, even though he had already being in prison for killing someone. If this is not "near untouchable", what is?

kippy wrote: »

I hope I hear more about this in the local media.

Can't see this ever happening.

JustMary wrote: »

Mr justMary picked up a story from a barman that Wednesday is now "student night", whatever that means.

Cheap drink night. It used to be Thursday, but as they get enough punters out for Thursday, the publicans have moved to Wednesday to extend the amount of days that people will go drinking.

=-=

I've walked through there alone late at night and sometimes early in the morning and didn't get any trouble. Being 6 foot tall, shaved head, and wearing a full lenght black trenchcoat probably went in my favour, though. I was aware of the groups of the scumbags to my left and to my right, and never avoided them, as I find you sometimes attract attention if you try not to attract attention.

Doctor_Socks

First thing i'll say is MAKE SURE your friend shows every bite mark to the doctor and ensures that tests for hepatitis and aids, I know that seems like a crazy thing to say but I was involved in a fight in eyre square around 3 years ago where I get a real nasty bite off some scumbags dirty sister who decided she wanted to jump in on the action aswell. The whole fight started over the fact that I have ginger hair, dirty eejits were just looking for a fight and I ended up being the first one they could hurl abuse at! Luckily some of my mates were just in Vivo so managed to run in as fast as they can and we ended up making sure the other group was in pain the next day! When I went to the doctor over the standard wounds and head trauma its only be chance that he seen the deep bite mark on my neck and immediatly asked for blood samples, luckily everything turned out clean for me!

During that fight I have to say the guards were very responsive and stopped it as soon as they came across it, they took names but unfortunately just told the scumbags to go home. I'm very happy they stopped it when they did because myself and my friends honestly had no remorse for this scum after their vile 'gin-ger' comments, couldn't even pronounce the word ginger the idiots, and we could have ended up doing a lot more damage then we wanted too.

Whenever I walk Galway anymore I make sure never to walk through the middle of eyre square between 12 and 2:30, during that time its all the young scum drinking cans and being abusive as possible, they're just waiting for someone to walk past to have a go at them.

Fair play to the French guy for jumping in Jayoo, best of wishes to your friend and hope he recovers fast. Its a horrible thing to be assaulted in your own home town, doesn't really feel the same again afterwards.

Doctor_Socks

the_syco wrote: »

Cheap drink night. It used to be Thursday, but as they get enough punters out for Thursday, the publicans have moved to Wednesday to extend the amount of days that people will go drinking.

Its been Wednesday night for a good while now, mainly because of drink offers that started in GPO and then transferred to every other club in the city. A lot of people I know had assignments due on Fridays and didn't want to be hungover going in to their lecturers with them, also, you ever been on a bus at 9 in the morning hungover as balls with the sun shining in? Would almost turn you off drink forever!! Especially if it was a feed of Guinness the night before and there's no toilet on the bus...

gandroid

Doctor_Socks wrote: »

During that fight I have to say the guards were very responsive and stopped it as soon as they came across it, they took names but unfortunately just told the scumbags to go home.

Seriously? Yet again...told them to go home? Can people not be arrested for assault or what is it you have to do to get arrested by the Gardai in this country? If these scumbags don't see any punishment is it any wonder they just do the same thing again and again...

There could have been another Gerald Barry amongst them or the pondlife that perpetuated last night's attack but they just get told to go home or at worst have their 'names' taken.