Townstunnedby brutalassaults

October 1995

A Bray mother spoke this week of her fears that her son could have contracted the AIDS virus in a vicious attack in which his ear was bitten last weekend.

The incident was one of two brutal assaults which saw crime sink to savage new depths in the town.

As a shocked community reeled at the viciousness of the crimes, the mother of a 21-year-old victim talked of her worries that her son might have been infected by his frenzied attacker.

‘I have heard that his assailant was probably on drugs at the time, but have been unable to discover whether he was HIV or not. In this day and age it is a very real worry. I believe I have a right to know and intend to lobby my local politicians and petition the Minister for Justice until I get satisfaction,’ she said.

In a black weekend of violent crime an elderly pensioner, two local men, and a visiting holiday-maker were hospitalised following two separate attacks within hours of each other.

In the first assault, a local man and an overseas visitor had to receive hospital treatment for head injuries and a bite to the ear after being set upon in a frenzied attack as they walked with friends along Quinsboro Road in the small hours of Saturday morning. A passer-by who attempted to come to their aid was also beaten by one of the three assailants and had a portion of his ear bitten off.

The scene of the crime was sealed by gardai and the missing piece of ear was recovered and reattached in hospital.

In the second incident a 75-year-old pensioner who lives alone at St Cronan’s Road in Little Bray awoke in the early hours of Saturday to find three intruders in her bedroom.

She was threatened and ordered to hand over cash, before being struck on the head with an implement as the gang went through her possessions. The attackers, who gained entry to the house by forcing open the front door, are believed to have fled the scene empty-handed.

The elderly victim raised the alarm shortly after the attack, and was removed to St Columcille’s Hospital in Loughlinstown, where she was still being kept for observation this week.

a young holiday maker who had arrived in Bray to visit Irish friends just a day before the Quinsboro Road attack was still in hospital on Tuesday, and was scheduled to be transferred to St Vincent’s Hospital for a brain scan.