News from around the 32 counties of Ireland

Police have arrested a boxer in his late 20s after a savage assault on Grafton Street which left the victim with horrific head injuries.

The victim, business student Tomas Carter (21), from Monkstown, south Dublin, told the Herald last week: "I am so relieved that police have made an arrest. This has been the most difficult period of my life."

Detectives from Pearse Street Police Station arrested the suspect in Clondalkin last week and he is being questioned last week about the assault.

It is understood he has admitted the offence and is "deeply sorry".

"He has come clean -- he feels very bad about what happened. In fairness, the incident was out of character for the man," said a source.

The suspect, who has convictions for minor offences, is an accomplished boxer, according to sources.
Keen rugby player Mr Carter was left fighting for his life after the attack, which occurred at Grafton Street, near the junction with Harry Street, at 3am on Sunday, May 29.

He needed 41 staples in his head during life-saving brain surgery when a six-inch skull fracture was discovered.

Mr Carter said he was "just 48 hours from death" when neurosurgeons at Beaumont Hospital performed a three-and a-half-hour surgical procedure on his head. Mr Carter explained: "The surgeons had to open my skull up. While doing this a part of my skull crumbled and had to be removed, they stopped the blood clot and drained the blood from my brain successfully.

"They had to put two titanium plates and screws in my head to hold my skull together, from where they had to cut open my skull and also where the skull bone crumbled."
(Source: The Evening Herald)

Fermanagh

An Orange hall destroyed in an overnight fire was targeted by arsonists who may have used diversionary tactics to keep the emergency services from the area, Orangemen have claimed.

The isolated building in Inver Road, near Rosslea in Co Fermanagh, was gutted in the blaze, which was only discovered at around 6am after it had burnt itself out.

Orange Order secretary Drew Nelson said he understood a phoney 999 call was made around the same time of the fire, reporting an incident in nearby Lisnaskea.

"This looks like a very well-organized attack on the hall," he said. "We understand that the people responsible may even have used diversionary tactics to keep the emergency services from the area at the time."

Mr Nelson, who will visit the hall to inspect the damage, said the hall played an important role in the small Fermanagh community.

"This is a hall which was at the cutting edge of work we're doing in the community in many different areas," he said. "Its facilities were used by different organizations and it played an important part in local life. This is an attack on Protestant and Orange culture in the area and is a very worrying development."

It later emerged that a genuine fire was reported in Lisnaskea during the night. But a spokeswoman for the Fire and Rescue Service revealed that it had been started deliberately.
(Source: Belfast Telegraph)

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Nster.com