Surgeons re-attach man's hand after pub sword attack
The scene at the Deputy Mayor pub yesterday
The 27-year-old victim, Peter Rogers from Ballymun, was recovering in St James's Hospital last night after the delicate operation.
Gardai said Mr Rogers became involved in an exchange of words with two men from Blanchardstown in the Deputy Mayor pub at Meakestown, near Finglas, on Sunday night.
The two men then left the pub and returned half an hour later.
One of them then began attacking Mr Rogers with a hammer.
Gardai said Mr Rogers was attempting to protect himself against the hammer blows when the second attacker produced a samurai sword and completely severed one of his hands.
Staff in the pub immediately called the emergency services and Mr Rogers was rushed by ambulance to the Mater Hospital.
He was later transferred to St James' Hospital for treatment by plastic surgeons.
An emergency operation to re-attach the hand was carried out into the early hours as surgeons fought to save it.
Last night Mr Rogers was in a stable condition in hospital.
Meanwhile, gardai carried out a number of searches in the Blanchardstown area and arrested a 33-year-old suspect.
The man was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and taken to Finglas garda station for questioning.
Further searches were carried out in Blanchardstown throughout yesterday as gardai tried to track down the second suspect.
Senior officers said yesterday they were following a definite line of inquiry.
A case conference was held yesterday afternoon to review progress made by gardai with their inquiries so far.
Detectives said they believed the incident had been captured on CCTV cameras and last night they were examining the footage taken from a number of cameras in the area.
Gardai have already interviewed a number of customers, who had been drinking in the pub at the time, and carried out a forensic examination of the scene.
Last night, Fine Gael's justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan repeated his call for a ban on samurai-type swords.
"This was a truly horrific incident involving an unusual but potentially deadly weapon," Mr Flanagan said.
"It follows a number of similar incidents only weeks ago in which innocent members of the emergency services, as well as the public, were targeted.
Lethal
"Yet, lethal weapons like samurai swords can be bought and sold freely on the internet for as little as €60," he added.
Mr Flanagan suggested that an amendment to the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act would allow for a ban on the sale, possession or importation of those weapons and could be backed up by a special permit for genuine collectors and martial arts practitioners.
He said the British government had imposed a ban on dangerous swords following a series of similar incidents.
A 33-year-old man is to be charged at Dublin District Court today in connection with the sword attack.
- Tom Brady
