A young adult with special needs received facial injuries in an unprovoked assault in Portlaoise recently.
Following the incident a man was remanded in custody, charged with assault causing harm, and is due to appear before Cloverhill District Court on June 28 next.
The victim is believed to have received a broken nose from the incident and required treatment in hospital.
He was waiting at a bus stop on James Fintan Lalor Avenue when the assault occurred at around 6pm.
“It appears this attack was totally random, following which a man was arrested,” a garda spokesperson confirmed.
Direction is now being waited on from the DPP in relation to the case.
One eyewitness, who didn’t wish to be named, told LaoisToday that he was shocked and sickened at what happened. “This poor chap was covered in blood,” he said.
“There was no way this young fella could even have defended himself,” he said.
He praised the gardai for their prompt response in arriving on the scene and arresting the suspect within minutes.
He wasn’t sure whether friends of the injured party or bystanders came to his aid, and contacted gardai.
“Fair play to the gardai, they were on the scene very quickly,” he said.
Shock
He added that everyone in the vicinity of the incident was shocked.
“It was quite upsetting to see. It was disgusting,” he said.
This assault follows another unrelated disturbing incident in which a man in a wheelchair was robbbed in Carlow.
During this incident the perpetrators disabled the Graiguecullen victim’s wheelchair and stole his wallet before taking off on a bike.
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