A mother has claimed that she and her teenage son were attacked by a gang of juveniles in a terrifying incident in a park in Dublin on Tuesday.
The mother, Anna S, recounted the harrowing experience to Dublin Live, telling how a peaceful day turned into a nightmare in Lanesborough Park in Dublin 11.
"The weather was nice and I took my kids to the playground. The girls were on the swing and my son, he's 15 years old, he went somewhere to play," she said.
"After a few minutes, I saw him with a group of lads and they were screaming at him. When he turned around, they threw a metal pipe at him. So I ran to him, and I shouted at the boys, asking them what they were doing."
Anna revealed the group of boys were trying to steal her son's hat and alleged that he was hit on the head with a metal object.
"He finally got his hat back and he was walking to me, but they followed him and hit him in the head with the metal stick," she said.
Anna says Matthew was left with three bumps on his skull from being attacked with the metal weapon and claims that one of the attackers even tried to hit her.
"They started to run away when I said I was calling the guards," Anna added.
"They were gone for a few minutes but they came back. One of them took my bottle of water and splashed the water on me. Then he threw the bottle at me."
According to Anna, the gang consisted of around five or six young boys, ranging from eight to eleven years old. While Anna was desperately trying to keep her daughters, aged four and six, safe from three of the boys, a lady informed her that her son was being followed by the others in a different direction.
"When I called my son to ask him where he was, he told me he was in Charlestown Shopping Centre and he was safe because they didn't get in," she said.
"My girls were very scared because the boys were shouting a lot and throwing the bottle at us."
Anna was angered at the lack of intervention from others in the vicinity of the incident. "The weirdest thing was I saw four or five adult men, two metres tall, with their kids, and no one did anything. They didn't even ask if I was okay or try to scare the kids," she said.
"I had a similar situation four years ago when I was pregnant with my youngest. A few young boys, the same ages as the ones from yesterday, tried to steal my son's scooter. I had my phone in my hand and one of them just punched my hand and I dropped my phone. He took it and ran away."
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