Gardaí investigating an alleged hate-based attack on a boy outside a school in Co Meath have launched an investigation into a second alleged assault in the area. The investigation team is exploring possible links between the two alleged assaults and are trying to establish if the second incident flowed from the first.
The first incident generated significant public debate after it was recorded and the video footage was shared on social media, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also contacting the victim’s family.
In reply to queries, Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin, confirmed a second alleged assault, two days after the initial attack, was now under investigation.
“Gardaí are investigating an alleged assault on a female teenager that is reported to have occurred in the Trim Road area of Navan, County Meath, on the morning of Wednesday, May 17th,” the reply stated. “Medical assistance was not required. Investigations into this matter are ongoing.”
The first attack, which left the boy hospitalised with serious injuries, has been classified by gardaí as an assault with “hate as a motivating factor”. The suspects, along with the victim, are students of Beaufort College in Navan.
Last Friday five teenagers were arrested as part of a Garda investigation into the assault of the 14-year-old boy and were later released without charge. Three teenage boys were arrested on Friday morning, and a further two teenagers were detained on Friday afternoon, all for alleged offences under Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1999.
According to the Garda, a file will be referred in the first instance for consideration for admission to the Juvenile Diversion Programme in accordance with Part 4 of the Children Act, 2001. Investigations into the incident are ongoing.
The second alleged attack occurred two days later, also in the Navan area, and one line of inquiry is that it was effectively a spill over incident related to the first attack.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar comment on the first incident last Monday week, saying he had spoken by video-call with the mother of the young man who was attacked and offered his support and his sympathy. “I expressed my solidarity and support and they were happy that the gardaí had engaged with them in school too,” he said.
The teenager attacked last Monday week in the first of the two incidents now under investigation suffered concussion, broken teeth, extensive bruising which left him with a shoe print on his forehead.
The victim was at the time very close to a family member’s house to where he tried to crawl to safety as blows rained down on him by a group of teenagers. One member of his family said: “No 14-year-old should be beaten like that for anything at all, especially because of who he is. He is only a child and it happened across the road from a family member, where he was trying to get to.”
