A sixth-year student at St Joseph’s CBS, Drogheda, appears to have been the victim of a knife attack because he refused to give his mobile phone to a man who approached him and his four friends.
A 21-year-old man is due to appear before Drogheda District Court in relation to the incident today.
According to some of his school friends, the student said “no” when the man, who appeared to be very drunk, approached, grabbed the student and asked for his mobile phone.
The man, who was in the company of an 18-year-old girl, then produced the knife and lunged at the student, stabbing him in the back.
The stabbing happened on Laurence Street, some 200 metres from the centre of Drogheda and in broad daylight. The injured teenager was walking home after school and was in his uniform when he was attacked. An ambulance nearby was flagged down and brought him to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital where his condition was said to have improved from serious to stable.
Man arrested
Gardaí in Drogheda continued to interview a man arrested a short distance from Laurence Street.
Drogheda councillor Dom Wilton said, “the town is becoming a no go area. The traders are trying to run businesses when things are in such a bad way anyway and then it is getting more dangerous.”
A member of the joint policing committee, Mr Wilton said he wanted to invite Minister for Justice Alan Shatter to attend one of its meetings and explain why he wanted to reduce Garda resources.
“He wants to cut the number of gardaí. That is not what people want; people want to see gardaí on the street,” he said.