Four arrested after vicious coastal attacks
FOUR people have been arrested on a popular Dublin seafront after allegedly assaulting two men and throwing rocks at swimmers.
Gardai said they are investigating the alleged assaults which occurred at Bullock Harbour in Dalkey and resulted in minor injuries to both victims on Tuesday.
The arrests were made on Dun Laoghaire seafront afterwards.
An onlooker said one of the victims was covered in blood after suffering a bad head injury as he fled his attackers before collapsing on the road near Bullock Harbour.
"I saw them holding this guy up against the rocks and one of them smacked him," said a witness. "He would have hit off the granite rock, so he was wide open, and then the other four jumped all over him."
The witness said the youths then moved up towards Dun Laoghaire - close to where they had been spotted earlier throwing rocks into the swimming area - and allegedly attacked another man.
Smack
"They went up and stopped this guy in a football jersey," said the witness. "I saw him getting a smack and the next minute they were all on top of him. I've never seen anything like it, in broad daylight with a couple of hundred people walking the seafront."
Four of the alleged culprits, two juveniles and two adults, were identified to the gardai, who were unable to find the fifth.
"All four have been released pending a file to the DPP and we are still investigating at this stage," said a garda spokesman.
hnews@herald.ie