Crowd filmed attack on woman and mayor

A CITY mayor punched when he tried to defend a young woman from attack has spoken of his shock at bystanders’ refusal to help.

Cllr Niall McNeilus, the mayor of Galway, was hit in the face.

However, instead of helping him or the young woman, several bystanders filmed the incident on their mobile phones.

The incident happened at the city’s Wolfe Tone Bridge at 8.30pm on Friday.

Mr McNeilus had a sore jaw but did not require any medical attention. The young woman was not seriously injured either.

A man was arrested and gardaí in Galway said a file was being sent to the DPP.

“I was just after coming out of a meeting when I saw the man abusing and attacking the young woman,” he said.

He added that both appeared to be inebriated and he intervened as he feared for the woman’s safety.

“I told the guy to back off but he struck out and hit me a punch to the jaw,” he said. “There were a lot of people there but nobody else intervened apart from one woman who rang the gardaí.

“What shocked me is nobody else came to the young woman’s assistance and nobody else intervened when I was assaulted.

“Several people, including some men, took out their phones and started filming. I couldn’t believe it.

“That young woman could be anyone’s daughter, sister, partner or whatever, and they started filming it on their phones. I would have hoped for more civic spirit.”