Gardaí are investigating an attack on a young woman and her fiance just hours after they became engaged.
Angie Steels (22) suffered a fractured bone and lost her engagement ring in the assault in the early hours of New Year's Day. Ms Steels said the attack in Sligo town centre ruined her engagement night.
She said she and her boyfriend, Ryan Dunleavy (20), became involved in some jostling in a cloakroom queue in a nightclub with two other male revellers at about 3am, and both parties were removed by bouncers. "There was no fisticuffs or anything like that, just some argy-bargy."
A short while later, while on their way through the town for something to eat, they spotted the two men in a shop doorway. At the same time a motorist pulled up and got out of his vehicle.
Ms Steels, who has a four-month-old daughter, Erin Rose, said: "Next thing we were set upon by the three men. They started on Ryan and as I tried to pull one of them off he turned around and hit me and knocked me to the ground and came down on top of me. The other two were kicking my boyfriend in the head."
She added: "One of the men stepped on my hand and my engagement ring disappeared."
Gardaí and an ambulance were called and the couple were taken to Sligo General Hospital, where they spent almost six hours before being released.
A spokesman for Sligo gardaí confirmed they were investigating "a serious assault".