CCTV lead on suspects in vicious assault

DETECTIVES are believed to have identified from CCTV footage three young men suspected of carrying out a vicious assault that left a Sligo man fighting for his life.

Barry Duggan was kicked and beaten unconscious in the attack in Dublin’s city centre early on Sunday morning. He was attacked after falling off his bike and into a group of youths.

Shocked witnesses reported Mr Duggan was cycling down Grafton Street when he collided with a group of three young men.

They described how he was dragged in to a side street and repeatedly kicked in the head. His attackers then fled up Dublin’s main shopping street towards St Stephen’s Green. Gardaí described the attack as “senseless and brutal”.

Detectives spent yesterday watching video footage from cameras dotted around the Grafton Street area. They are understood to have identified the three men involved in the attack.

Mr Duggan, in his early 30s and a librarian, is originally from Sligo but has been living in Rathmines, south Dublin for a number of years. Family members yesterday travelled from the west to be at his bedside at St James’ Hospital.

The attack on Mr Duggan is the latest in a series of vicious late night assaults in Dublin and other cities across the country. Last weekend, a young man required 150 stitches to his face after being pounced on by five other men outside a night club near Temple Bar.

A murder inquiry is also continuing into the gangland-style killing of Paul Ryan, a 27-year-old from Raheny in north Dublin, whose body was found on a deserted road in Co Offaly last Saturday.