Title update: Child gets needlestick injury on Dublin Bus

L.Jenkins · 24-09-2015 7:40pm #1

http://theliberal.ie/horrific-investigation-underway-after-3-year-old-is-stabbed-with-a-heroin-syringe-on-a-dublin-bus/

Just saw this not so long ago and thought what sort of a scumbag would do something like this, and to a child of all people?

Mod Edit:
The child wasn't stabbed by a person, but allegedly received a needlestick injury from a discarded syringe.

pmasterson95 · 24-09-2015 7:43pm

A junkie

Day Lewin · 24-09-2015 7:43pm

Don't you mean "lowest" order?

the dark phantom · 24-09-2015 7:45pm

junkies junkies bastard

Barely There · 24-09-2015 7:46pm

Liberal use of the word 'allegedly'?

Very light on actual facts?

Who cares - let's get outraged people.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 24-09-2015 7:46pm

I can't get over a publication that uses the grammar "...has since went on to tell her story to ...". Doesn't instill a lot of confidence in the bona fides of the story.

hatrickpatrick · 24-09-2015 7:47pm

This isn't what I heard, what I heard was that the syringe has been discarded rather than a fellow passenger actively stabbing the kid. Either way it's horrific.

On a side note, does anyone know how common or uncommon the name "Zambra" is in Dublin?

Penny Tration · 24-09-2015 7:49pm

Every other story I've read about this doesn't say the person stabbed her. They say the syringe was on the seat and she pricked her finger.

jungleman · 24-09-2015 7:49pm

It's nothing new. It's so sad that it happened to anyone, especially a child, but it's just so common in Dublin now.

Where I work, I walk through a little alleyway to get to the staff entrance. The place is always littered with needles, human faeces, and wee-wee.

About four weeks ago I was walking through that alleyway and noticed something wrong with my shoe. When I bent down to look, I saw a used needle from a syringe was stuck in my converse. Thank god it didn't go fully through and into my foot, but it was still kind of scary. The city centre (Abbey St, O' Connell St, Parnell St especially) is just a rubbish dump for junkies.

El_Duderino 09 · 24-09-2015 7:50pm

I'm not disagreeing that stabbing a child with a syringe would be a dreadful thing to do. But there are far too few verified facts in that story. Why would a junky have a syringe full of heroine on a bus? How could the mother tell what was in the syringe? Why would a needle prick cause the child to 'pump blood'?

Sounds like a the author was willing to accept the most sensational version of events without any attempt to fact check any aspect of it. I'll reserve my outrage until I know more.

newacc2015 · 24-09-2015 7:56pm

This article is filled with mistakes. If the child unfortunately contracted HIV or Hep C. It would take at least 10-14 days at least for HIV to show up in Blood. Its not 'a few days'. Also even if the syringe user had HIV, they would have to have a viral load high enough to spread HIV. I imagine the child was put onto PEP immediately. Which greatly reduces the risk of HIV. There is thousands of medical workers working with HIV+ patients and dont contract HIV, yet they have been used to it. PEP is pretty effective at preventing HIV taking hold in the body.

Instead of blaming the junkie is clearly not in the right state of mind. Why aren't we questioning how constant Governments who think ignoring IV drug use in the city, will simply cause to go away. The is plenty of talk in Budget 2016 for supporting rural areas to prevent crime. When are we going to see some action on tackling IV drug users.

dreamers75 · 24-09-2015 8:02pm

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

On a side note, does anyone know how common or uncommon the name "Zambra" is in Dublin?

I know of at least 3 unrelated families with that name.

mynameis905 · 24-09-2015 8:07pm

Put all the methadone clinics right slap in the city centre they said.

Be grand they said.

Satan is Real · 24-09-2015 8:24pm

Way too many dirty junkies in Dublin.

theteal · 24-09-2015 8:31pm

dreamers75 wrote: »

I know of at least 3 unrelated families with that name.

Yup, one of my best mates and then there were a few unrelated lads in school iirc

voz es · 24-09-2015 10:16pm

Drugs are an addiction to be addicted to drugs and have your life fall apaart as a result of that does not make a person scum, no more than being a banker

SEPT 23 1989 · 24-09-2015 10:25pm

Zambra

Where have I heard that name before

the dark phantom · 24-09-2015 10:26pm

voz es wrote: »

Drugs are an addiction to be addicted to drugs and have your life fall apaart as a result of that does not make a person scum, no more than being a banker

No doubt bankers end up with some of the drug money too.

eviltwin · 24-09-2015 10:31pm

voz es wrote: »

Drugs are an addiction to be addicted to drugs and have your life fall apaart as a result of that does not make a person scum, no more than being a banker

Leaving the detritus of your drug use on public transport, shooting up on the street and robbing people to fund your habit does make one a scumbag.

Ignatius in bloom · 24-09-2015 10:32pm

eviltwin wrote: »

Leaving the detritus of your drug use on public transport, shooting up on the street and robbing people to fund your habit does make one a scumbag.

Did it belong to a junkie?

eviltwin · 24-09-2015 10:35pm

Ignatius in bloom wrote: »

Did it belong to a junkie?

Who else would leave a needle lying around on a bus? Hardly a diabetic now.

Streetwalker · 24-09-2015 10:35pm

Love Dublin. World's greatest city.

Ignatius in bloom · 24-09-2015 10:35pm

eviltwin wrote: »

Who else would leave a needle lying around on a bus? Hardly a diabetic now.

People lose stuff all the time. Awful thing to happen though.

FortySeven · 24-09-2015 10:40pm

I never set out in life to become an addict. I didn't wake up one morning and think 'that's the life for me!"

However bad you think 'junkies' make your life, you will never understand the torture they put themselves through on a daily basis.

The war on drugs has been lost, it's time we began spending the wasted money on treatment, this is a public health issue and we should fund it that way instead of locking up the addicts.

I am a decent, intelligent man, hard working and honest. Addiction can be solved with a bit of will and some funding. I am walking proof of that.

Brian from Bray · 24-09-2015 10:42pm

One of the mods should change the thread title, lot of people seem to be making threads about this.

stop · 24-09-2015 10:45pm

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Zambra

Where have I heard that name before

Take your pick:
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/man-accused-of-robbing-7-drivers-1.79235

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/10+years+for+syringe+attacker.-a061076851

Robber who stabbed three warders with a syringe filled with his hepatitis infected blood was jailed for 10 years yesterday.

Heroin addict Paul Zambra knifed himself in the chest so he would be taken to Mater hospital and could escape.

Zambra, 21, of Ballyfermot, told the officers, who late tested negative for hepatitis C, that he had AIDS. He ran off but gardai caught him trying to hijack a car.

pconn062 · 24-09-2015 10:45pm

'ublin

fleet_admiral · 24-09-2015 10:46pm

Brian from Bray wrote: »

One of the mods should change the thread title, lot of people seem to be making threads about this.

Pot. Kettle. Black

retalivity · 24-09-2015 10:47pm

FortySeven wrote: »

However bad you think 'junkies' make your life, you will never understand the torture they put themselves through on a daily basis.

I dont care, neither do a lot of people, theyre a blight on society and decent people. Nuke the bastards.

Brian from Bray · 24-09-2015 10:48pm

fleet_admiral wrote: »

Pot. Kettle. Black

Huh ?

FortySeven · 24-09-2015 10:56pm

retalivity wrote: »

I dont care, neither do a lot of people, theyre a blight on society and decent people. Nuke the bastards.

Thankfully there are plenty that do. Tell me, as a gambler do you have the same opinion of those who destroy themselves and their families with that particular addiction?

Ignatius in bloom · 24-09-2015 11:00pm

FortySeven wrote: »

I never set out in life to become an addict. I didn't wake up one morning and think 'that's the life for me!"

However bad you think 'junkies' make your life, you will never understand the torture they put themselves through on a daily basis.

The war on drugs has been lost, it's time we began spending the wasted money on treatment, this is a public health issue and we should fund it that way instead of locking up the addicts.

I am a decent, intelligent man, hard working and honest. Addiction can be solved with a bit of will and some funding.

That's really it. I hate seeing drug addicts and what it does to them, us and our society its absolutely horrific and seems like it's getting worse year by year regardless of what money is thrown at it. I worked as a 14 year old in Sean mcdermott street and Buckingham Street in the late 80's and delivered stuff all around including Sheriff street/Oriel street and places like that and what always stuck with me was the complete and utter lost generation it produced and this is what we are seeing now kids of addicts in one shape or another basically fending for themselves since the ages of two and up. Either mentally, physically or sexually abused and in a lot of cases all three, I knew all the ones around those areas back then and they would be battered daily black and blue, stole because thats all they could do to survive they would go home to violence, go out to the street to violence and they would be well aware of what 'Normal' people thought of them.

Unloved, no self esteem and dealing with the absolute torture that was in their mind a lot turned to drugs i suppose to feel something other than what they felt naturally. A lot of them with undiagnosed mental deficiencies from birth left to deal with that as child and eventually as an adult, Most drug addicts have the mental ability of a 15 year old and the help you see them getting is mostly twenty or more years to late.

Im not defending the things they do and I'm not a dogooder whatever that is but if you want less addicts on the street then you have to get them young and being a little bit understanding would also help. I don't think anyone chooses to be an addict, there is usually a reason why they end up as one though.

Disclaimer: 80% of families were fine in those areas.

eviltwin · 24-09-2015 11:02pm

FortySeven wrote: »

Thankfully there are plenty that do. Tell me, as a gambler do you have the same opinion of those who destroy themselves and their families with that particular addiction?

Fair play to you for beating your addiction, that deserves respect. And fair play to you if you funded your own habit but plenty of other people don't. I've been mugged by a junkie, had a syringe held to my neck while his buddy went through my bag. Horrible experience and not something anyone should go through. I've seen people robbed, saw one girl have a wine bottle smashed against her head so an addict could grab her bag, have heard of elderly people having their lives destroyed by their addict kids.....people make a choice to take drugs,we don't make a choice to be victims of crime.

FortySeven · 24-09-2015 11:19pm

eviltwin wrote: »

Fair play to you for beating your addiction, that deserves respect. And fair play to you if you funded your own habit but plenty of other people don't. I've been mugged by a junkie, had a syringe held to my neck while his buddy went through my bag. Horrible experience and not something anyone should go through. I've seen people robbed, saw one girl have a wine bottle smashed against her head so an addict could grab her bag, have heard of elderly people having their lives destroyed by their addict kids.....people make a choice to take drugs,we don't make a choice to be victims of crime.

I did not fund my own addiction legally. Only the celebs managed that. That is the other side of addiction, it is easy to tar all addicts with the scumbag title. Was George Best a scumbag? Amy Winehouse? Charles Kennedy? Kurt Cobain? Janis Joplin? Robert Kennedy?

There are people who commit crimes such as these without addictions.

eviltwin · 24-09-2015 11:27pm

FortySeven wrote: »

I did not fund my own addiction legally. Only the celebs managed that. That is the other side of addiction, it is easy to tar all addicts with the scumbag title. Was George Best a scumbag? Amy Winehouse? Charles Kennedy? Kurt Cobain? Janis Joplin? Robert Kennedy?

There are people who commit crimes such as these without addictions.

People who fund their habits themselves are few and far between and lucky enough not to have to resort to other measures. It's not being an addict that makes someone a scumbag, it's when you exploit and hurt people who are just trying to get by and leave them with lasting damage that makes one a scumbag. There is no excuse for leaving needles on buses, beating up the elderly, holding up shop assistants....anyone who does that is a scumbag addictions or no

Azalea · 24-09-2015 11:28pm

What a badly reported story. I heard a radio interview with the mother - the syringe (which apparently contained a liquid) was left on the seat and got stuck in the child's finger. Frightening thing to happen.

mynameis905 · 25-09-2015 12:20am

FortySeven wrote: »

I never set out in life to become an addict. I didn't wake up one morning and think 'that's the life for me!"

However bad you think 'junkies' make your life, you will never understand the torture they put themselves through on a daily basis.

The war on drugs has been lost, it's time we began spending the wasted money on treatment, this is a public health issue and we should fund it that way instead of locking up the addicts.

I am a decent, intelligent man, hard working and honest. Addiction can be solved with a bit of will and some funding. I am walking proof of that.

Entirely self-inflicted.

I sympathize to a point and agree that the war on drugs has been lost but the situation we have now where junkies openly wander around the streets, shoot up on buses and generally make everyone else's life a misery because of their own shítty choices has to stop.

emigrate2012 · 25-09-2015 1:23am

I think there is a misconception of how heroine addiction is for some people posting here. for those in it's grip, it turns the best of people into the worst in quick order. And for the vast, vast majority of them hate what they do to sustain the habit..... I've seen it take a lot of people in my area, some are in prison, some are on the streets, some are dead. 1 the got straight, and he struggles all the time staying that way.

Yes it's horrible to see it so visibly, and incidents like this are genuinely shocking, and but they Are people behind the addiction. Never forget that please people.

Wompa1 · 25-09-2015 6:56am

When I was about 12 I was sitting in the backseat of my friends dad's car and got stabbed in the leg with a syringe. The dad was a vet. Now, I love the taste of hair and have a shiny coat

SuperS54 · 25-09-2015 7:24am

CLAIM!!!! I wonder how much she'll get?

suicide_circus · 25-09-2015 7:30am

SuperS54 wrote: »

CLAIM!!!! I wonder how much she'll get?

Particularly as the child was "pumping blood from her finger" from a single syringe prick (sorry, STAB!).

haveringchick · 25-09-2015 7:37am

voz es wrote: »

Drugs are an addiction to be addicted to drugs and have your life fall apaart as a result of that does not make a person scum, no more than being a banker

I know but leaving your dirty needles on the bus where other humans including children sit makes you a scumbag

looksee · 25-09-2015 7:39am

Are the people who are telling us what a hard time drug addicts have and how they are not to blame...for whatever...the same people who are posting in the current thread on AH (and at other times) saying how harmless drugs are and people should not be so boring about them, give them a try, you'll be grand!

Ignatius in bloom · 25-09-2015 8:57am

looksee wrote: »

Are the people who are telling us what a hard time drug addicts have and how they are not to blame...for whatever...the same people who are posting in the current thread on AH (and at other times) saying how harmless drugs are and people should not be so boring about them, give them a try, you'll be grand!

Not me. Drugs are bad, bad, bad! Apart from Nexium, thats god, good,good.

AnonoBoy · 25-09-2015 9:59am

Great website that you've linked to OP.

Illiterate nonsense churned out by bigoted morons.

Penn · 25-09-2015 10:13am

"The Liberal" - For when the Daily Mail just isn't biased enough.

AnonoBoy · 25-09-2015 10:15am

Penn wrote: »

"The Liberal" - For when the Daily Mail just isn't biased enough.

Fun game - try to find any mention of the result of the Marriage Referendum on that website.

It's like they live in an alternate universe where it never happened!

cowboyBuilder · 25-09-2015 10:18am

newacc2015 wrote: »

This article is filled with mistakes. If the child unfortunately contracted HIV or Hep C. It would take at least 10-14 days at least for HIV to show up in Blood. Its not 'a few days'. Also even if the syringe user had HIV, they would have to have a viral load high enough to spread HIV. I imagine the child was put onto PEP immediately. Which greatly reduces the risk of HIV. There is thousands of medical workers working with HIV+ patients and dont contract HIV, yet they have been used to it. PEP is pretty effective at preventing HIV taking hold in the body.

Instead of blaming the junkie is clearly not in the right state of mind. Why aren't we questioning how constant Governments who think ignoring IV drug use in the city, will simply cause to go away. The is plenty of talk in Budget 2016 for supporting rural areas to prevent crime. When are we going to see some action on tackling IV drug users.

+1

Would be almost impossible for her to contract HIV from this, the virus dies very quickly (seconds) outside the human body, the guy would literally need to be shooting up and immediately stick the other person for a transfer.

still horrible story tho, but as said before it seems sensationalized.

whupdedo · 25-09-2015 11:11am

Is there anything to be said for state sponsored poisoning of the heroin these druggies use , put the poor ****ers out of their misery

Banned

Ally Dick · 25-09-2015 12:23pm

Her surname has a certain cachet around certain areas of Dublin. I'm sure the cops are treading gingerly around this

hatrickpatrick · 25-09-2015 2:35pm

theteal wrote: »

Yup, one of my best mates and then there were a few unrelated lads in school iirc

dreamers75 wrote: »

I know of at least 3 unrelated families with that name.

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Zambra

Where have I heard that name before

To be honest from the sound of things it's a more common name than I thought. There's a Zambra family who were involved in the Crumlin/Drimnagh drug war, one of whom was killed in a housing estate off Cork St around the corner from one of my mates' gaffs - and I was theorising that if it's not that common a name, then the suggestion that the needle was just randomly lying around might have been suspicious.

I reckon it's unrelated though. Sounds like this was a genuine nasty accident caused by some unrelated scumbag. I mean I have nothing against drug users, I'd defend them more than most on this forum, but how hard can it be to throw your sh!t in a bin after using it? It just displays a total and utter lack of consideration for others' safety. I'd usually be the first to attack the trope that "junkie = scumbag", but I feel in this particular case the word 'scumbag' is wholly appropriate.

Title update: Child gets needlestick injury on Dublin Bus

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