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Irish woman victim of vicious assault in the Bronx

Immigrant sustains serious injuries in random attack

MOLLY MULDOON,

Irish Voice Reporter

Published Wednesday, July 18, 2012, 7:38 AM

Updated Wednesday, July 18, 2012, 10:21 AM

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Vicious assault on Katonah Avenue (pictured) in the Bronx

Photo by Google Images

A young Irish immigrant is recovering after a brutal assault in the Bronx last weekend.

The Meath native was attacked by a lone male assailant shortly before 4 a.m. in the early hours of Saturday morning on Katonah Avenue in Woodlawn, as she and her friend walked the short distance home from a night out.

The 21-year-old GAA player sustained serious head injuries including a broken nose, skull, teeth and cheekbone as a result of the attack.

Rosie O’Reilly, a neighborhood friend and manager of the GAA ladies Cavan team, received a first-hand account from the victim.

“It’s unbelievable that someone would try and do that much harm to someone else,” O’Reilly told the Irish Voice on Tuesday.

“She had to get 15 stitches between her eyes,” O’Reilly said. “Thank God there was no bleeding to the brain.”

It is understood that the two girls were walking home in the early hours of Saturday morning when the assault took place. According to O’Reilly, the pair noticed a man talking to himself when they passed Country Bank on Katonah Avenue.

“He asked the girls if they had called a cab,” O’Reilly explained, “They said no.”

O’Reilly explained the assailant then ran towards the victim and quickly attacked her with a concrete block. Her friend had been walking a few steps ahead, and was unharmed.

“She is really traumatized,” said O’Reilly, who is helping to organize travel arrangements for the young woman’s family.

Doctors released the victim from the hospital on Sunday evening.

“They wanted to wait until the swelling goes down to do reconstructive surgery.” O’Reilly said. “The girl is just distraught.”

At presstime on Tuesday afternoon, police investigators were not available for comment.

In the wake of the attack, a community spokeswoman in the Bronx has advised residents to be vigilant.

“I would reiterate the message that it is not safe to walk home at night regardless of how close you live to the bar,” Orla Kelleher, executive director of the Aisling Irish Community Center, told the Irish Voice.

“A lack of police presence on Katonah Avenue encourages crime. We would encourage businesses to invest in CCTV for the protection of not only their customers, but their businesses.”

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bronxirish284 | Aug 04, 2012, 03:43 AM EDT

eiramach, ummm, there are still white ethnic neighborhoods in New York City, Woodlawn is an Irish neighborhood. That doesn't count as ethnic?

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eiriamach | Jul 20, 2012, 08:12 PM EDT

manhattan, it's a frightening situation, I grant you, but only the ethnic mix has changed since my childhood. When there were still white ethnic neighborhoods-- Polish, Irish, Italian, Eastern European Jewish, Russian Jewish, Armenian, etc., etc.-- schools needed armed guards and metal detectors but did not have them yet. Teachers were raped in front of students, burglars slit the throats of apartment dwellers, drug dealers and loan sharks broke the kneecaps of people who did not pay them, children were abducted from city playgrounds and molested, seniors were mugged, unhappy spouses pushed each other off sixth-story rooftops, and if you had $50 for Sal on the corner, he'd take care anyone who bothered you. Hey, that's the real New York City, then as now, and other urban centers in the USA. It did not begin with the Cuban, Puerto Rican, or Colombian immigrants. And if all the Hispanics left tomorrow, it would continue. They didn't drive whites out of Harlem; the City did that, but that's a long story....

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manhattan | Jul 20, 2012, 05:46 PM EDT

Eiriamach, "you know bigotry when you see it huh?" How come when blacks and the spanish were not the majority in New York that they were then and now in fractured families, on welfare and where they went to school became a place where armed guards and detectors for guns had to be installed? I won't even go into the riots in Harlem during the war that drove whites out of that great neighborhood. Molly 2000 described her neighborhood in such a way that that is exactly how all neighborhoods were . Black people that have to live with these criminals have got to speak up and get there families back on track. These gangs most likely have Mothers that gave birth at 15 and Fathers who are abandon their Sons. Am I a bigot? No just a realist.

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Molly2000 | Jul 20, 2012, 03:09 PM EDT

I think it’s absolutely shameful that anyone would refer to this young victim as ‘stupid’ and ‘making herself a target’. So she asked for it? That’s absolutely disgusting, and for a moment consider if that had been someone you loved who was attacked so maliciously and without reason. Would you question their sense of judgment? No, you would shut your mouth and show support for the fact that they had been involved in an UNPROVOKED attack. Let me tell you this, whether drunk or sober, when you come out of a bar and someone asks you if you ordered a taxi and you hadn’t – the automatic reaction is always NO! The reason why so many Irish move to Woodlawn, is because of the low crime rate, and if the police don’t catch a crime you can be sure the neighbors twitching behind the curtains will. That’s the type of neighborhood it is. Blanketing it under ‘The Bronx’ gives the wrong impression of the safety of the area, and those who responded with such insensitivity to this article are the ignorant ones, who have no idea what it is like to live, work and socialize in the area. This is an isolated, unusual incidence for the neighborhood. Have some compassion for goodness sake. If you lived a few blocks from the bar, in whichever neighborhood you lived in – would you honestly get a taxi home? No. And let me tell you this, this type of irrational attack made by someone who is clearly not sound of mind would have happened either way unfortunately. They would have attacked, whether the victim was walking a few blocks home, putting out their garbage, or getting out of a taxi. Let’s not turn Woodlawn into a neighborhood where the residents are watching their backs day and night – release the description of the attacker so we can find him and move on with support and love for the unfortunate victim and her family who have been so devastated by this incident.

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eiriamach | Jul 20, 2012, 02:08 PM EDT

manhattan, I grew up, working-class, on the streets of New York, at a time when crime of all kinds, drugs, gang warfare, and delinquency flourished, and I well remember assaults and several difficult situations I managed to extricate myself from. I'm not naive. And I know bigotry when I see it. The majority of criminals are black or Latino? Of course! The majority of NYC residents are black and Latino! And they are the overwhelming majority of the poor as well. If you cannot live in such an environment without developing a siege mentality, you will surely do better elsewhere.

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manhattan | Jul 19, 2012, 07:29 PM EDT

Eiriamach, are you for real? Do you live in New York City? The facts are there that the majority of crime is by blacks and latinos. Deidre was right, why can't the truth be said without being called a racist? I believe you are a naive person who hasn't been mugged yet.

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Anna | Jul 19, 2012, 06:50 PM EDT

eiriamach, don't you think that it is strange that with a crime as serious as this one they would not include a description of the asslaint so that the community can be vigilant. As a resident in Woodlawn I was concerned. I had to find out by word of mouth on the street and through facebook. Why not include the facts? Deirdre emm has a point. That's all.

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eiriamach | Jul 19, 2012, 05:25 PM EDT

Uh oh! deirdre emm has been here pouring out more racist garbage. Stirring up hatred for ethnic minorities is deirdre's purpose in life, and kilgara and Anna are helping out with their innuendo about race. Why should it matter to you what race the assailant was? Are you looking for an excuse for your own racism? And while you're working on that question, ask yourselves why Irish Central has been inundated lately by the likes of deirdre emm. What do these Stormfront types expect to find here, why do they expect to find it here, and why are you helping them? I'm not looking forward to SPLC adding Irish Central to its list of hate groups on the Internet, so I suggest it's time to call these vermin by their proper species name!

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ciaradexy | Jul 19, 2012, 04:46 PM EDT

Whyteen, ''shitgibbon'? Fantastic!!

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manhattan | Jul 19, 2012, 10:51 AM EDT

How sad for this girl who is from Ireland and doesn't realize how dangerous it is in the Bronx,Brooklyn Manhattan Etc. I was born and raised in the city at a time when believe or not we didn't even lock our doors. As a young girl I came home from the bars at all hours and never worried. So glad I grew up in a New York at that time and sorry for anyone that lives there now because of the fear of being robbed or raped. I hope that the young girl will be ok and the bars should think about escorting girls home.

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CitizenWhy | Jul 19, 2012, 02:14 AM EDT

These bars that open late need to organize an escort system for those living nearby. CCTV cameras are a good idea, but they will not prevent an assault. The assailant sounds mentally disturbed, and probably lives nearby or is homeless and sleeps nearby.

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Schon | Jul 18, 2012, 11:03 PM EDT

The Irish git is from Belfast; you can tell from his accent. He sounds just like me and I'm from West Belfast. He is not wearing a bowler hat like what the Orange men wear. Claire2... Look at the hat. Why do you suggest that it is a bowler hat, which it obviously is not, and from this infer that the git is an Orange man? Its the type of hat you see on little Irish souvenir dolls wearing a waist cost, with ginger hair and beard, stub upturned nose and the hat you see in the video. I believe it is, appropriately enough, a Coachmans hat. Usually there is a shamrock sitting on the hat brim. The doll might be representative of a leprechaun. Does this sound representative of the wicked Northern Protestant, do you think? Are you a progagandist for republicanism, sullying an organisation, blackening its name to the uninformed? Are you a syncopantic sterotypical republican or just plain ignorant?

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Schon | Jul 18, 2012, 11:01 PM EDT

I agree with irishcoffeekid, these women displayed a severe lack of judgement walking about, any town, at 4am. It is common for women to believe that things like this only happen to others. Unfortunately there comes a time when you are the other. My wife and daughter fall into this category of belief and I have had rows with both that they should not take risks, anytime. These women need to learn from this episode and I think they need to be told that they were stupid.

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closetosource | Jul 18, 2012, 10:33 PM EDT

first of all to the shitgobbin irishcoffee kid..how dare you give out about the poor girl being attacked for being "stupid/halfbrained"..the girl was seriously traumatized by this incident and its bad enough for her to deal with this never mind your harsh, ignorant and unsympathetic comments..its easy for you to say this from behind a computer when you don't know the full story. I would like to see your reaction if it was one of your family or kids seriously assaulted..honestly if anyone has any inappropriate comments like this, we would prefer for you to keep it to yourselves.

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jamieLM | Jul 18, 2012, 05:56 PM EDT

@agree with irishcoffeekid. This is a dangerous world. Everyone, and especially women, needs to use commonsense and avoid risky situations. Don't make yourself a target and give some sick-o predator the opportunity to attack you. It's a shame that we have to always be on alert, but that's the real world we live in today.

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