Weekend of violence in Ratoath leaves injured garda in hospital

The village of Ratoath was in shock this week following a weekend of violence in which a garda was hospitalised and a man was viciously beaten as he walked home on Saturday evening. The two separate incidents, which involved what are described as violent teenagers, has sparked an angry reaction from local residents who say that young thugs have been causing mayhem in the area for some time. Two gardai were injured in the incident on Friday evening when officers were called to a disturbance at the River Walk in Ratoath at 11pm. As gardai from Ashbourne were trying to arrest a teenager, they were set upon by a gang of youngsters. One garda had to be taken to Our Lady"s Hospital in Navan with injuries sustained in the assault and was detained in hospital over the weekend. A second garda was also injured, but was not hospitalised. Seven people have been arrested in connection with the incident, all of whom are teenagers or are in their early 20s. The violence continued on Saturday night when a man in his 30s was walking home from the village in the Old Mill area when he was set upon by four teenagers, three males and a female, who were aged around 14 or 15. He was viciously assaulted and kicked in the face during his ordeal, and is said to be deeply traumatised by the entire incident. His wife spoke this week of the devastating effect the assault has had on the family. 'We are extremely shaken by this. It is dreadful that you cannot walk home in a town like Ratoath without being attacked like this. It is extremly frightening and it is a big struggle for us to get over it,' she said. 'It has been a huge shock, it scuppered our plans for the weekend and left us afraid to go out for a walk anymore,' she added. 'Where were the parents of these youngsters on Saturday night? Do they know what they were doing? Why were children roaming the streets at night? Do their parents not care?' she asked. Deputy Shane McEntee said that violent teenagers and antisocial behaviour has become a huge issue for the people of Ratoath and highlighted the need for a Garda station in the village. 'This is a major problem in Ratoath. There have been a lot of problems with young people and antisocial behaviour in recent years. We have, in the past, regularly highlighted the need for a Garda station there,' he said. Cllr Nick Killian said he was shocked, appalled and horrified by the savagery of the weekend incidents and said there had now been three violent assaults in the village in just two weeks. He called for the Garda"s Juvenile Liaison system to be set aside in cases of assault and urged that charges be brought against teenagers involved in such behaviour. He called for custodial sentences in cases where people were being assaulted to show this type of behaviour would not be tolerated. He said the people of Ratoath had been deeply upset by the incidents at the weekend. 'Parts of Ratoath are becoming no-go areas at night and it is getting to the stage where people are afraid to go out on their own,' he said. 'We have two very active community gardai, but they cannot be around 24/7,' Cllr Killian said. The Fianna Fail councillor said that 99.5 per cent of local youngsters were well-behaved, but there was a hardcore of youngsters who were out of control. Parents had a role to play, he declared.