Californian tourist and friends viciously attacked in Dublin city center park

As soon as I read that someone was beaten with a crutch, I knew it was classic Dublin scangerism at its most clichéd. There's _always_ someone with a crutch. Remember in school, the "hard" lads often walked around with a limp, presumably to indicate that they'd recently been wounded in heroic battle? Typical. @bogsidebunny: It's true... in all likelihood this means practically nothing to the useless psychopath that was arrested. I was asked to come to court as a witness in a burglary near the city centre a couple of years back. A barrister introduced the thief by mentioning his record of over 100 _convictions_ and summarising some of them, mostly aggravated assault, theft etc. His only defence was that he was getting "treatment" (i.e. other free drugs, paid for by taxpayers anyway) for his heroin addiction, and that his dose was down from something to something smaller. He walked away with some kind of probation bond, which meant "scot-free unless you're convicted of something else in the next 6 months". Amazing.

Yea Cranleigh, But by Irish law the Gardai can only detain him for 24 hours. Then he'll be released on a small bond (usually $100). I doubt he'll show up for court , but in the unlikehood he does he'll: sincerely apologise, express genuine remorse and blame his addiction to alcohol and drugs. He'll plead guilty to a lesser charge (prob. simple assault), which generally gets his sentence reduced. I doubt however he'll even spend one day in jail..Follow (irishtimes.com) and you'll see examples of Irish justice on a daily basis.

A hope that yob was apprehended or arrested by the off-duty cop (fair play to him) as well as being reprimanded by him.

The police aren't going to solve this problem but they can move it away from areas frequented by tourists. We are talking about Merrion Square here, a small park right outside the Dail. This is a national embarrassment; the number of police on duty should increase until such acts are deterred.

" “What happened in Merrion Square on Tuesday night is absolutely horrendous, but the sad reality is that this kind of thing is happening every day now,” a senior police source told the Herald. " Well, I hues the mrs and I will go to Mexico this fall vacation instead of Ireland ... because it is apparently safer.

I have been mugged once, during my first visit to Chicago. The motive was robbery. Contrast this to England where people get stabbed simply for looking at somebody the wrong way.

@jacersagain: You might well disagree and i have no problem with that but the statistics show in many jurisdictions the point I made tends to be more accurate. Anecdotal evidence, on the other hand, supports your position. Crimes such as muggings have many causes and not simply the issue of poverty and employment. Regardless, I don't really care whether the guy trying to rob me has a job, a drug habit, a bad childhood or whatever - I want him stopped (which I'm prepared to do myself), I want him apprehended and dealt with. Between us all this jerk should be 'corrected'. I can do my part, the Gardai can do theirs, so why can't the Courts fulfill their obligation to society ass well as to the accused?

I have to disagree with RichardP @ 10.43AM today and agree w/ rpbrown. It is when people are passing their hours of day or night gainfully employed in work, or perhaps watching engrossing TV dramas and soap operas that crime falls (remember “Roots”, the 1977 TV mini-series that captivated black Americans, and how crime fell drastically while it was being shown?). Conversely, it is when people are out of work and desperately in need of money that crime escalates - especially committed by addicts of drugs and alcohol. Crime will always take place everywhere whatever the circumstances because greed (or revenge) is ingrained in many people (“white collar” crime - anybody? What about the greed of Financial Market Investors, Property Developers, Property Speculators, Real Estate Agents, Car Salesmen and Lawyers amongst many - anybody?). During the so-called Irish Celtic Tiger years when so many Irish nationals and non-nationals were employed here in our Ireland, crime rates here fell to their lowest ever recorded. Same for the fall in crime and terrorist activity in Nth Ireland after so much employment was generated by American and British investment in creating jobs for one-time yobos "up north' as we say in the Sth. These days, stealing relics and metal is the habit of East Europeans in Ireland. Just these past few days the copper roofing on a Connemara church, valued at €5000 (US$6000), paid for by Irish and American donations, was stripped off and stolen away. No RichardP, I have to disagree with you… crime occurs when people have idle hands and greed in their hearts, or else behovened to other “master” criminals.

As a Dubliner, I am aghast at this attack happening and sorry for the injuries to the young American and his friends. But one must not make it out that all Americans and other tourists, are targets of criminals in Ireland. ANYbody can be attacked ANYwhere in the world. My own son was viciously attacked in Australia a few years ago as he walked alone past a group of Hells Angel motorcyclists idling outside a pub in a busy city street and was lucky that hospital attention restored his body to health (but his mind is not healed on that event, even with passing years). Everybody is at risk of attack in every city and town in the world but it has to be said that the level of risk is very low overall everywhere. I know this to be true; I’ve travelled extensively and have only once been accosted, at the Trevi Fountain in Rome, unsuccessfully, by street-children pickpockets, who met a very appropriate robust response from this jacers. And in all my travels, I’ve met only two other tourists who were attacked, by adult pickpockets, ironically in two of the holiest cities in Italy, Rome and in Milan. In comparative world terms, Dublin and Ireland is very safe for all visitors. My advice, for what it’s worth, is to just be aware of yourself, of what’s going on around you and of the people around you, wherever you travel, even in your own home town.

@woundedknee - I agree. I think Dublin is descending once again into a state of lawlessness. The Gardai are doing what they can with what they have; I seriously doubt the Courts are doing anything to improve the situation. Let's not forget the generation of the 60's and 70's are now the senior judges and politicians in Ireland, which might give some indication of their disconnection with reality.

@rpbrown - That is not actually true, in fact the opposite is often true. Crime has many causes but crime rates often increase as a society gets wealthier and decrease when a society gets poorer. It would be reasonable to think the perpetrators of this deed were stricken by poverty, but it's more reasonable to assume they were stricken by greed - and probably the need to feed a drug habit.

If Ciara had been present, I can hear her screaming to the muggers "Get the Yank, Get the Yank. He wasn't even born in Ireland". Leaving Her Clownship aside for a moment, I am saddened to hear that Merrion Sq Park is the scene of this violence, it's my favorite park in Dublin. American visitors to Ireland should take this heads up seriously, you can be victimized anywhere in Ireland. I knew an American guy who took a walk thru Glasnevin Cemetery, and got mugged when he found himself in one of the remote areas.

This sort of crime happens more and more when people get poorer and poorer. Obviously what these assailants really wanted is money, which is in short supply. To fix this growing problem (which will always happen to some degree), a healthy economy is the only solution.

I cant wait to see what Cairadexy has to say about her new tourist friendly Oirish

herself: Issueing traffic tickets is revenue-producing, but arresting and jailing violent criminals costs the taxparers a lot of money. The average garda does his best to perform the dudies to which he is assigned. Those at the top are the ones who make the assignments. DON'T blame the gardai for the behavior of the crminals.