Teen critical after weekend of violent attacks

TWO men are due to appear in court this morning charged in relation to a serious assault in Dublin city centre, which left a teenager in a critical condition.

And in a second assault, a man suffered serious head injuries when he was set upon, also in the city centre. Both attacks happened in the early hours of Saturday morning.

In the first assault, gardaí were called to a public order incident on Middle Abbey Street at around 2.30am on Saturday.

Gardaí had been told a number of males were involved in a fight.

They found a youth, aged 17, with injuries. He was taken to the Mater Hospital, but transferred to Beaumont Hospital, a specialist centre for head injuries.

A Garda spokeswoman yesterday said the youth’s condition was still critical. Two men, both 29, were arrested at the scene and detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act at Store Street Garda Station.

They were charged at the station yesterday and will appear before Dublin District Court today.

In the second incident, a man was found lying on the road at the junction of Nassau Street and Grafton Street with serious head injuries.

The man, aged in his 40s, was taken to St James’s Hospital, where his condition was described as stable. The man is living in the Clonskeagh area of south Dublin but is originally from Scotland.

In other incidents, five people arrested during a Garda raid on an unofficial halting site in Lusk, north Dublin, on Friday were charged on Saturday.

A sixth person arrested, a juvenile, was referred to the Juvenile Liaison Scheme in relation to an alleged public order incident.

The other five were adults. Three were arrested in relation to outstanding warrants, one man was arrested for burglary and another for theft. They were taken to Dublin District Court on Saturday.

The planned search of the site in Thomondtown was carried out by the Public Order Units and the divisional search team. During the raid, they recovered a shotgun, ammunition, industrial equipment and other property.

In Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, on Saturday, officers from the Divisional Drugs Unit seized a substantial quantity of cannabis and ecstasy.

A Garda spokeswoman said the surveillance operation in a wooded area on the outskirts of the town was planned.

“The drugs seizure contains 30,000 ecstasy tablets and, subject to analysis, may have a street value of €300,000, also found was 3kg of cannabis, again subject to analysis this may be valued up to €21,000,” she said.

A 24-year-old man was arrested and was being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act at Carrickmacross Garda Station.

Meanwhile, a youth was stopped by gardaí in Dublin city early on Saturday and caught in possession of a suspect device.

Gardaí from Kevin Street Garda Station, who were on foot patrol, took control of the device and arrested the man.

The 22-year-old was detained at Kevin Street Garda Station under Section 30 of The Offences Against The State Act.

The army’s EOD team (explosive ordinance disposal) examined the device.