Unfortunately, it is a story that is all too familiar on our streets, the story of a completed unprovoked, arbitrary assault by an anonymous attacker on a random passerby.
The random passerby was, in this case, 2FM's Eoghan McDemott, the attack gratuitous and senseless, the attacker anonymous and, as yet, unknown.
“I was leaving a pub, I left by myself. I was on the phone to my girlfriend, walking towards the taxi rank, and I don’t remember anything after that until I woke up in Tallaght hospital.”
Eoghan spoke to Joe Duffy on today’s Liveline, where he collaborated on the lead-up to the attack, which took place on St Stephen's night. He was visiting cousins in Clondalkin and left at 2AM to get a taxi. On the way to the taxi rank, he was on the phone to his girlfriend, when everything went blank.
On the other end of the phone, Eoghan's girlfriend, a doctor, subsequently told him she heard “a thud and then nothing”. About a minute later someone picked up the phone and she asked them to call an ambulance. He was taken to Tallaght Hospital where, later in the morning, he woke up. Following tests, he was released, but that was far from the end of things.
“The next day, my vision started to go. I think I vomited 12 times in the space of a couple of hours. I had ringing in my ears, my head was absolutely pounding. My girlfriend is actually a doctor, and she said 'Jesus, let’s get you back to the hospital'.”
The random attack, a vicious punch from behind, knocked Eoghan unconscious, resulting in severe concussion, according to doctors. His tooth was knocked through his lip, but the effects of the attack are evident even now, a week later. Eoghan is permanently tired, gets blinding headaches, and his sense of smell and taste are gone.
But it’s the sheer random nature of the attack, the lack of any explanation or rationalisation, however unjustifiable, that is particularly difficult to take.
“It is so mindless. I guess if you had had an altercation with somebody, if there had been words, if somebody had spilled a drink, not that it excuses it, but at least you would have a context. I guess the lack of context is very frustrating.”
A week later, how does Eoghan feel about the event?
“I don’t know what I think, to be honest. I haven’t got blinding anger towards the person, in one sense. And in another sense, I really hope they are caught…. Unprovoked assaults lead to consequences far worse than what I have endured.”
It’s a stoical viewpoint, but it is absolutely true. Random, unprovoked assaults such as these, particularly those that involve blows to the head, can result in extreme injury, permanent damage, and even death, as history shows us.
If, by any chance, you have any information on this particular assault, you can contact Clondalkin Garda Station, at Orchard Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, on telephone number 01-60 67600.
And to listen to the full interview, click here.