Gardaí record 17,000 assaults at late-night venues

MORE THAN 17,000 people, mainly young men, have been assaulted outside late-night venues over the last two years, according to garda statistics.

That’s the equivalent of 710 people, on average, every month. Of those, almost 5,300 people were harmed in the assault, while a further 230 people were seriously injured.

A person convicted on indictment for assault causing harm faces a five-year sentence, while conviction for assault causing serious harm can lead to a maximum of life imprisonment.

Figures from Operation Encounter show 63% of assaults were detected by gardaí, meaning they were able to identify the culprit responsible in those cases. However, a garda spokeswoman said this didn’t necessarily mean that all those were charged as a result.

A study published earlier this year by St James’s Hospital in Dublin showed more than three-quarters of assaults treated in the casualty department occurred late at night on the streets or in pubs and nightclubs.

Almost half of all assault victims were attacked with weapons, mainly glass containers or bottles. Over 80% of victims were male and 95% of victims said their assailant was also male.

The president of the Garda Representative Association, Dermot O’Donnell, yesterday said public disorder affected people’s lives across the entire country.

Last week, gardaí in Lahinch, Co Clare, said the seaside resort resembled a “battlefield” on Saturday nights, with as many as 800 people drunk and fighting. Officers reported gangs of youths engaged in “pitched battles” in front of gardaí and inflicting criminal damage on vehicles and houses.

Operation Encounter was set up in February 2002 to combat the rise in public order problems late at night outside pubs, nightclubs and take-aways. Between then and February 2004, gardaí have recorded over 154,000 separate offences, including:

Almost 64,000 cases of public drunkenness.

42,000 incidents of threatening and abusive behaviour.

More than 18,000 cases of garda directions being ignored.

“What these figures show is that there is a problem with public order, and that gardaí are tackling it, but it a recurring problem,” said Mr O’Donnell.

He said it was part of a wider societal problem, influenced by unprecedented affluence among young people and a fall in supervision and control of young people’s behaviour.

“Public order incidents are difficult to deal with. By and large, people have consumed alcohol and are not as responsible as they should be,” he said.

But public order offences have fallen significantly since the operation started.

In the first six months, 44,314 offences were recorded, falling to 37,135 by the end of February 2003 - a drop of 16%.

However, since then the reduction has been slight, dropping to 36,648 by the end of August 2003, a fall of 1.3%, and at the close of February 2004, it fell by 1.2% to 36,193. Of the 11 separate offences, eight recorded a drop. However, three offences - disorderly conduct, threatening behaviour and wilful obstruction - rose.