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Garda Press
File photo
# Dublin
Fianna Fáil election candidate assaulted by youth on scrambler bike during community clean-up
Gardaí confirmed they were investigating the incident.
A FIANNA FÁIL local election candidate was the victim of an attack in Dublin while taking part in a community clean-up day last weekend.
A gang of youths, on scrambler bikes, approached first-time candidate, Rachael Batten, after they broke a red light and crashed into another vehicle, on Sunday.
When another women involved in the community initiative gestured that they had broken the red light, they came towards them and one of them began to hit Batten with a brush, leaving her with a broken wrist.
“We were minding our own business. We were just finishing up, myself and another lady, cleaning up the outskirts as you enter the estate.” she told Newstalk Breakfast today.
“While we were doing that two fellas came by breaking the red lights at that junction in Santry, which is particularly dangerous and the lady beside me pointed and said ‘see that, they’re after breaking those lights’.
“They had no helmets but they had these kind of masks on them,” she added.
Fianna Fáil has been calling for stricter regulations around the use of scrambler bikes following a rise in the number on injuries caused by them.
“They’re an absolute nuisance and with that, one of the lads turned around to look at myself, and the other lady, [and] he went into the back of a car and he fell off the bike.
“He got back on the bike and turned away and we got back to work and within a few minutes we heard them squealing back, coming towards us, and one of the lads got off the scrambler and started screaming and shouting.
“He accused the lady of causing the accident, I don’t know whether he might have got distracted, or heard her, but other than that there was no rationale for it.”
One of the youths picked up a brush that the ladies had been using for the clean up and began hitting the 32-year-old with it.
“He picked up a sweeping brush and went running for the other lady,” Batten said.
“I tried to run after him and get the sweeping brush off him but then it kind of came into a bit of an altercation.
“He managed to, with the edge of the brush, hit my arm and wrist and he managed to push me aside and he continued on running.
“I’ve got a broken wrist and cuts and bruises,” she added.
“The unfortunate thing about this is that it’s getting coverage because I am a candidate but these things are happening day in day out.”
Gardaí confirmed they were investigating the assault.
“Gardaí are investigating a report of a minor assault on a female, in her 30s, on Sunday 19 May 2019 at approximately 2pm in the Oak Park area of Santry, Dublin 9,” a spokesperson said.
Investigations are ongoing.
