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Updated: 11.25am
A MAN WITH special needs has been left with serious head injuries after an assault in Fairview Park in Dublin.
Paul Deaton (31) was looking at JCBs and diggers at a compound near the park when he was set upon by a number of young males, one of whom was on a bike.
The incident took place at about 7.45pm on Wednesday.
Paul’s sister Linda posted images of Paul’s injuries on social media.
In a Facebook post, she said a passerby brought him to a local pharmacy after the attack as there was “blood everywhere”.
She said the assailants threatened to rape him, kill him and set him on fire. Witnesses told her they recorded the incident on their phones while laughing.
Linda brought her brother to Beaumont Hospital where he had four staples inserted into his head.
She told the Anton Savage Show Paul has been left “traumatised” by the incident.
Linda said he left the house without telling anyone on Wednesday evening. She said he “loves” to watch JCBs, adding: “That’s his hobby.”
After the attack, Paul told his family a group of boys approached him and called him a weirdo.
Paula said the situation quickly escalated:
One of the lads took out a lighter, threatened to take his clothes off, set them on fire. Then he threatened to rape him and set him on fire and then kill him.
“Because he’s so quiet he wouldn’t open his mouth.”
Linda said when Paul tried to run away “one of the lads kicked him”, causing him to fall and hit his head.
She said that up to five males were kicking him at one point.
He lost a lot of blood … They threatened my brother like a piece of meat, shame on them.
Gardaí confirmed they are investigating the incident. Anyone with information should contact Clontarf Garda Station on 01 666 4800 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
Lord Mayor
Lord Mayor Christy Burke, who lives nearby, visited the family this morning. He said they are still in shock.
He described the act as “nothing but savagery, thuggery and unacceptable to society”.
Burke added he’s sure gardaí will “deal with these thugs”.
Seán Haughey, another local councillor, said the community is “horrified” by the incident. He called on the public to be vigilant and report any issues to gardaí so they can “do everything … to ensure safety for park users in the future”.
Originally published: 9.53am
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Horrible guttersnipes
I barely understand the concept of wanting to troll, but choosing to do so on articles like this just make you look like a piece of attention starved shit
Take the day off today, mutt.
Am entitled to my opinion
Except you’ve been round long enough people know it’s not an opinion, you’re just trying to rise people. Sad really, time to make a new account maybe
And you know what spammy put your opinion on a piece of paper and shove it.!!.
If your not going to say anything good then say nothing at all
What a horrifying ordeal for this man.
I read elsewhere that he doesn’t go out after dark. How incredibly distressing for the family to think that somebody so vulnerable could be treated so callously, and in broad daylight too.
Sammy I’d be very careful
Shithead
Waste of Oxygen those people are…
Lots of CCTV in/around that park, this also happened a foreign guy around 10yrs ago… And Gardi caught all suspects …
REALLY hope they catch these “Oxygen wasters” …
@Joey:
Yes, I too remember an Italian teenager was left paralysed by a savage attack in Fairview Park years ago.
Sick cruel little b@stards!!!
Sammy,you may have reached the age of reason but your emotional intelligence seems close to ziltch
Sammy/patjoejoe/baz, give it a rest you piece of crap
Why comment back.. Treat the troll like a child and ignore
Exactly. Let’s put Sammy’s behaviour on extinction. No reinforcement should result in a decrease in the likelihood of the behaviours recurring.
Well Paul has just been invited to a tractor and digger show in Tyrellspass in June.! There will be over 100 machines there and I am sure he will be treated like royalty for the day.
Having said that I heard Paul’s dad telling what happened on Ryan tubridy show. The man was devastated and in tears he said that Paul is very traumatised and keeps asking why? He will probably have to have councilling.
Well that is the big question WHY?? What kind of back ground do lads who would do something like this come from? How come they have no empathy and then to film their evil deed! The future does not look good for them and you would wonder what kind of awful crimes they will perpitrate in the future!!!
I sincerely hope that they get more than a slap on the wrist. As this kind of thing is happening a lot lately maybe these people should be taken out of society for a while, and educated to understand people with disabilities and special needs. They are a horrible bunch anyway and I am glad that I did not rear a child that would be capable of stuff like that! And that Madra troll should not be allowed to have his comments printed on this site. I see he always gets a few green thumbs. Very unsettling….
Delighted to hear someone reached out to do something nice for him.
That was Guido Nasi and the attack left him paraplegic. Absolutely horrific!
I hope these complete and utter thugs are caught for this!
Catch these guys, lock them up and throw away the keys!
Go chase some cars
You are nothing but a vile piece of human excrement. How dare you have the audacity to make such a comment on a story about a disabled human being. Or any human being for that matter. If those thugs were old enough to be out on their own, on bikes and with mobile phones then they were old enough to know right from wrong and that’s not even the point. You should be ashamed of yourself. I’ve actually moved from being disgustingly angry to feeling sorry for you. You need to seek serious help.
potty, you can bet those green thumbs are from Baz, Patjoejoe, Mr Fantastic and all his other accounts. He’s a FG supporter. Doesn’t that explain everything?
W**nker
The few green thumbs are probably his other accounts.
Sammy, you are entitled to an opinion, but not all opinions and thoughts need to spoken, and certainly don’t need to be posted online. Sometimes it’s best to say nothing, or in your case it seems it’s always best to say nothing.
They are cowards nothing else and they will get what’s coming to them,
What did Sammy say?!
@Sammy and Mad:
Yes, you’re entitled to your opinion but keep it to yourself!
Will someone In charge of law in this country be it the Garda or government show people that do this kind of stuff Jail terms of 5-10 years with no possibility of early release. Bring chain gangs into the country make this kind of scxm work hard to repay for their crime. There is plenty of work that needs to be done in this country that could be done by these baxxxrds. They have job bridge and it’s ok to make people do this,why not chain gangs for prisoners hard labour it might make people that do this stop and think first. And also make it a 2 or 3 strike system and then your out. Hope this young man gets better soon and I also hope that the scxm that did this are charged and jailed.
He’s trying to make it about him. Attention starved little puppy. Out you go and do your little wee wee, Sammy. Good dog.
Idiot
It was your suggestion well done.Far more good people than bad in the world.
Only the lowest of the low could do such a thing… The judicial system needs to hammer down hard on this disgusting behaviour
Cat o’nine tail’s comes to mind
You could say the wrong thing to the wrong person in these comments Sammy. It would not be hard to find out your ip address that is connecting to your fake account even if you are using a fake ip it makes no difference which I doubt you have to brains to do anyway.. you would find your name and address posted up after a little work. Be nice wouldn’t it? Watch it.
unfortunately the judicial system won’t. if it does go to court, the hearing will go along the lines of:
judge: ‘how old are you?’
defendant: ’14′
judge: ‘go home to your mother. case dismissed’
and you can guarantee that the parent will have the ‘my johnny wouldn’t do a thing like this’ attitude.
What I can’t stand about the likes of the Madra is that the whole conversation becomes about him!
Gavin, a few legends have started doing exactly that and posting the real names and locations of these trolls. It’s deadly. Some of the trolls haven’t copped that yet because the Journal obviously deletes those posts… but they can’t delete screenshots people have already taken
@ Rory O Gorman, that’s exactly what I was thinking. It makes me wonder what kind of household this Sc.m is brought up in.
They obviously wont get a harsh sentence if caught,
I’d love to see every1 of them wear a sign in the middle of Dublin for a week explaining how Ignorant they Are.
Please, if you know anything about this, or think you might know the monsters, please contact the police. I couldn’t sleep at all last night thinking of this young man and how easily it could have been my 19 year old special needs son who goes to the shop along the front there at the park.
I’m already terrified when my son goes out the door but his walk to the shop is his only independence. The only time he gets to go anywhere alone.
I hope the ones that did this are caught, preferably by someone who will actually teach them a lesson. I hope this young man recovers from his ordeal.
@Carol I understand exactly. My little boy has special needs and we don’t live too far from Fairview park either. Like that, my son’s little bit of independence is occasionally walking to and from the shop. I can’t relax until he gets home because of stories like this.
WTF!!!!! What’s wrong with these people????
The thugs who’ve done this are vile animals. And the sad thing is, if they are caught they will most likely only get a slap on the wrists!
Wouldn’t insult animals by comparing them animals wouldn’t do it to each other.
@aaron. The thing is they are not animals they are what the world knows as humans without a supposed brain and conscience!
I constantly read here, people who do horrible acts being called animals.
As an animal lover I would ask that some other word be used..
That should read ‘with’
You would think there is decency in everyone, you’d be wrong. No rearing in these dirtbags.
I wonder if anyone has any connections with JCB/diggers (construction, sales etc) that could arrange a visit or trip for this man to see some machines once he has recovered? It would be a nice gesture
Nice gesture.
*Nice suggestion*
Smashing idea, I am sure the local yard where this lad was looking at them would be bring him in.
Great idea…… Lets ask HQ
Good idea, will email them and suggest local fairview guards might be able to put them in touch with family.
Done.. Hopefully something can be arranged to restore some of this poor man’s trust in people and bring him some happiness
Well done Alison, great idea and gesture!!!
Great suggestion
Fair play Alison :)
The JCB factory is near where I live in the UK. Will see if they have a visitor centre
I’m no Nazi but some people are beyond help. The skum who done that to this poor lad will be a scourge on the economy for the next 50 years without contributing anything to society.. They should be put to sleep to do us all a favour
I agree, some “humans” just need to be taken out of the equation. Criminality today is thriving on society’s understanding. It is always someone’s else’s fault, the bleeding hearts want to help and understand them when in reality these thugs would steal the eye out of your head and light you on fire.
These kind of cowards only get away with this sc.umbagery for so long before they pick on the wrong person. And I sincerley hope the wrong person that these s.cum meet, absolutely beats them to within an inch of their worthless parasitic lives.
Vermin
Those responsible must be caught and convicted.Many surely know the identity of the perpetrators.The vulnerable must be protected from those abhorrent individuals
Again it comes back to the same thing. There is absolutely no deterrent from committing crime in this country. If they are ever caught they’ll end up getting suspended sentences, remission, free legal aid, early release, day release, supervision, etc. It’s all a f**k**g joke! They only way we’ll ever sort this out is by bringing in tougher sentencing, reducing suspended sentences and doing away with remission. One thing I wouldn’t mind paying taxes for is a new super prison which could be built in the midlands or somewhere. The amount of people who are let out because our prisons are full is shocking. This includes sex offenders, serious assaulters, thieves, even some murderers. The whole things a joke. 5 years for killing your wife with a brick, community service for taking part in a manslaughter outside a chipper and not one banker served a day in jail. We can all think of many examples of the injustices of the ‘justice’ system. Farce!
Yeah look at the guy with 97 previous convictions. I’d put money on it that that guy started out doing stuff like this.
This is really disgusting. First that young chap the other day and now this. Hope this wasn’t a copycat.
Sometimes you do feel very shameful of the hunan race.
The same park where that poor Italian student was attacked and left paralysed in 1999.
Same thing happened to my friends son in the same park.
I’d well believe it not so long ago a young lad was kicked to death there, It’s a dangerous enough area no shortage of undesirables around.
Unfortunately fairview park is frequented by thugs anytime there is a bit of sun. Used to go through the park and it fills up with people getting drunk causing trouble
Fairview Park is really dangerous in the evening and at night. Always has been even when I lived near there. Shame, because it’s a really nice amenity. Spoiled by a small minority of trash.
Paul Deaton was singled out by this band of sc#m because he was different. So was the person to whom Top Cat refers.
http://www.thejournal.ie/history-gay-pride-parade-ireland-1537474-Jun2014/
I think you are mixing up some stories of fairview park. More than one person has been killed in it. The last instance was from customers of barcode and not to do with homophobia.
There is also the Italian student who got brain damage from a beating. It is notorious for attacks.
Mary,isn’t this always the way in ireland ? The minority who contribute nothing to the community or society spoiling thngs for the decent people of the area.
Absolutely, Roman. And no deterrent whatever for these little b*****d’s. Excuse the language.
Ronan. Stupid autocorrect!
CCTV footage in or around exits to the park should catch these human waste easily enough. Then make the parents of said human waste pay the victim at least €5000 for each one of them. I guarantee that said human waste will be a very good boy from then on. I’ve always said the ONLY way to really hurt filth like this is in their pocket. Unfortunately if they are caught they will be allowed to give a meaningless apology and maybe a bit of counciling (poor babies).
Yep that’s it John.
And when they say they don’t have the money..simple solution..we’ll dock from their future dole payments until the debt is repaid.
Agreed but these filth could just as likely be from a Middle class or wealthy background. Good parenting has nothing to do with money or lack of it. Some of the most decent well mannered kids I’ve ever met have come from poor backgrounds. If you rear your children to respect others they will be fine in life.
A couple of years back I was shadowing my lad while he got the hang of going to the shops alone. Basically following him at a distance of about 30 feet. We had on incident if some guy racers in a car rolling down the window to call him names. Another of some well spoken, well dressed teens, very obiviously from monied families, who attempted to surround him. One was about to steal him cap when I let a roar that sent them scampering. This was at the bridge in Fairview. I have no doubt this idiots come from all class backgrounds. The problem is if I had let a swing at them, as an adult, I’d be the one in trouble. This country is backward.
There is no fear in little dirt bags like this because there is no punishment. This sort of thing is going to get worse if the laws are not changed in this country to deter these filth.
Repeal the Children Act 2002 which v bed juveniles virtual immunity from prison. This law has given carte Blanche to teenage thugs to do things like this.
Edit I meant to say Repeal the Children Act 2002 which gives juveniles carte Blanche to do things like this. The autocorrect on my smartphone mashed my post
No wonder the guards get frustrated. They’ll do their best to catch these little b******s and then precisely nothing will happen to them.
They still have 96 convictions to make…
sick people and system.
Yes because teenagers are immune from prison under the Children Act 2002 and the ‘penal reform’ lobby wants the government to release all up to 18. I’m tired of economic disadvantage being used as an excuse for thuggery. Half the population have an income up to €28000 and are not involved in violent crime. Repeal the Children Act 2002.
Don’t wait for the cops , find out who they are and break their hands ,there must be burly men around the area who are appalled at this ,get hunting , they need to feel as frightened as this poor lad must be feeling .
This case is absolutely appalling and sickens me to the core…but the type of ‘mob justice’ you’re suggesting does too, it will achieve nothing positive. If people have information or witnessed this crime then go to the Gardai and make a statement.
Violence is all they understand , tummy rubbing is no deterrent , they need a good hiding .
Great opportunity to do a very good deed here for this young man. His hobby it seems is diggers/ plant machinery etc. Unfortunately its a business i know little about and have very little contacts in. Surely someone based in dublin personally knows someone with a plant hire business or something similar that could bring this lad in for a day and show him round it all and let him have a go on all the machinery? There are numerous plant exhibitions held in dublin every year i think it would be a fine gesture to try to organise a VIP special guest pass for this young man and his family to attend. Im going to look into it immediately….
Get lost sammy/patjoejoe/baz . Don’t try and post a sensible comment after your comments earlier
these people who done this need to be hunted down and locked up. dis
Prob the first time we will agree on.
i absolutely despair about this country at times – what the f*ck is wrong with people like these that can carry out deeds like this! no deterrent, a judicial system that seems to refuse to punish acts such as this and parents with a ‘my son/daughter would never do a thing like this’ attitude. sickening.
Ireland is now rife with these kind of kn@ckers. Can we just have a week every year where the majority of good citizens can gang up and hunt down these skumb@gs and teach them a lesson without consequences!?
Absolute vermin. This sort of outrage wont make the broadsheets thats for sure. There isn’t any reforming this sort of savagery but the bleedin’ heart brigades and pathetic ‘yoo-man rights’ will make sure we remain victims in and out of our homes.
bring back the chain gang, clean up the neighbourhoods, that’ll keep these lowlife busy
Sc_mbags beyond rehabilitation, it’s an endless cycle with these people, dread to think what their kids and grandkids will bring to society…we could do with an irish dexter!!
That’s so sad. Such an innocent young chap, going to look at the diggers. His family must be heart broken. It’s difficult enough as it is trying to raise someone with special needs, the struggle to access respite, education etc without having to contend with packs of roaming thugs. His confidence must be shattered. What a sorry reflection on that community. Hopefully the good people there will band together and help him and his family.
Ireland must be leading the way in underage skum incidents. There must be source of it. Never seen same amount of teenage skum in any other European country. We need to think and look for the source of the problem. Would that be their parents by any chance living off the social welfare whole life never seen days work and giving zero fks about what their children do and where. At the same time constructed laws allow teenage do what they want for zero punishment. Dublin is particularly bad but whole Ireland is affected. Let’s face it Dublin is a dump these days – junkies and teenage toe rags everywhere you move. Shocking.
It really is not safe in some areas and this is increasing to to many places, with nothing been done. Drug use around the city/ country is very high, anti social behaviour is also far to high, drinking in public places is very evident as well and there seems to be a very slow reaction to fixing these peoblems
You can drink wherever you want in most countries in Europe and they don’t have gangs of teens attacking people for the craic.
It needs to be properly fenced and shut at a reasonable Time to prevent any further injury or loss of life…
‘Burke added he’s sure gardaí will “deal with these thugs”’ Really? With the resources they have left?
What we are going to start seeing is a rise in violent vigilantism. In this case, its hard for me not to support it.
It scares me that there are ‘young males’ out there capable of this. I dread to think what they’ll be capable of when they grow up.
Chances are they’re local lads so hopefully someone knows who they are.
Modern teens are dangerous closed minded f***wits… the vast majority seem to be anyway
Don’t even think they deserve the title ‘thugs’ they probably aspire to ‘thug life’
Cowards seems more appropriate
These people need to be locked up. Disgusting and disgraceful.
Everyone’s going on about ‘tougher sentences’ as if they are a deterent. The people who did this don’t care about their own miserable lives and therefore don’t care about the lives of others. The only solution is helping the families and communities that haven’t any hope for the future. The corrupt, elite ‘businessmen’ who run the country are as much to blame as anyone. Until we have equality this kind of senseless street violence will continue.
And what about the victim’s right to justice?
There are just some people who are not interested in help and will throw it back in your face no matter how much you try. These people will continue to cause mayhem for others so only solution is to have them off the streets for everyones good.
There are always going to be inequalities in every society, unless you’re looking to implement a communist regime. You can’t equate absolute thuggery and a lack of morality with that fact that we live in an uneven society.
All this is happening is because people who are committing this crimes they know that nothing will be done .
This is the problem.They know that there will be no punishment even if they will get caught.
They may not be a deterrent but a good long sentence would keep the rest of us safe while they’re locked up.
Donnacha it’s people like you that have allowed these criminals to walk the streets without any punishment for the torture they inflict on helpless innocent victims.
Please go hug a tree or save the Daisy’s but leave real people deal with a real problem.
I didn’t say that they shouldn’t be punished, of course they should. Preferably with tougher sentences mixed with some community service to teach them empathy. My point was that locking people up and throwing away the key is only a short term solution for a problem that is becoming progressively worse.
As we know the kids often come out of jail schooled in the methods of more serious crime as well as being bitter and angry at the ‘system’- prison, Gardai, Social welfare etc. It’s all the same to them. To me it seems obvious that it’s a social problem. It is, after all, named anti-social behaviour. It will take generations to improve, let’s get cracking! We can start by looking at other countries on continental Europe (where I live) that don’t have as much of an issue with this.
I am a “real person” Chris. I don’t hug trees. If the thugs that attacked Mr. Deaton recognised that he too, is a real person they may have not attacked him. Strange that you accused me of not being a real person when it is that attitude exactly that we are discussing.
It’s nothing to do with communism, what are you on about? Social equality=hope for the future=looking after your kids=Kids with respect and empathy for others.
Dirty, rotten, filthy, humans! These people don’t stop to think what damage they are doing.. Maybe they are incapable of thinking! I’m sure this man with special needs has had many, many hours of work to build his confidence, his hobby was taking photos of trucks etc what harm was he doing? It sickens me to think there are such evil twisted people out there that could do that to anyone let alone a helpless person with special need. We should be working on promoting community inclusion, making people feel equal and treat everyone with dignity and respect! I’m sure that’s what they expect from others.. I’m so angry. I wish him all the best and hope he receives all the specialist support he is going to need to get over this trauma.
Hopefully these animals will be apprehended, but knowing that our courts treat violent criminals with kid gloves it’s doubtful if they will get jail time. It’s really beyond time our courts got serious and start handing down proper sentences.
Those low life’s didn’t necessarily pick on that gentleman because he might have been different.
Anybody around them was in danger
In fact had he fought back he could have been murdered by them.
Fairview pk has always been a park to avoid. In fact I remember my grandmother who was born in the 1880′s say keep out of there.
I think this is awful. That poor young man. Its not just in Ireland that these thugs get away with crimes like this, it seems as if the world is so busy apologising for them that we seem to have lost the ability to judge them and punish them. I’m not that old, but I can still remember being told to be polite to people, show respect to my elders whether they were relatives or not. We need to bring back some expectations of society and stop making excuses for these low lifes.
Such tough guys, in a group Picking on society’s vulnerable. I’d love to meet these low life thugs one on one, and see how tough they are then!
Those guys are a waste of dna! Awful thing to do!!
They should be hunted down and heavy punished before the Gardai get them.
:-(
I tell you if that was my son that got attacked like that, those fckers days of living on this earth would come to a abrupt end when I got my hands on them
Shoot these bags of excrement, they will I my bring misery to people for the rest of their lives. Exterminate the filth.
,*will only bring
Despicable pigs. Who brings children up so badly that they act this way
Give me 5mins with the dirt that done this and I’ll show them no mercy.pure and utter filth
Dublin. What a classy place.
There has to be a serious deterent to stop people from committing crime, and in ireland there simply isn’t. There was a court report the other day about an individual who bit off someones ear, he walked out of court with no time to serve, a suspended sentence or some other wrist slap.
Another example is the isle of man. When they had the birch, anti-social behaviour, graffitti etc was basically unknown. As soon as the eu forced them to stop using it, the trouble started and it has continued ever since.
OUR FUTURE GENERATION?
This is utter sickening. A new low for humanity but I wouldn’t qualify those that did this as humans.
have your say