Horrific wounds of nightmare on Grafton Street

Horrific injuries were inflicted on a 21-year-old student on Grafton Street in May.

Business student Tomas Carter (21) from Monkstown was left fighting for his life after a savage attack on the pedestrian street.

Mr Carter is desperate for the man who attacked him and left him for dead to be brought to justice.

"It has been the worst experience of my life -- it has made me very wary of walking around -- especially at night," he said.

INCIDENT

The incident occurred at the junction of Grafton and Harry Street at 3am on Sunday, May 29.

Explaining the terrifying aftermath of the assault, the brave attack victim told the Herald: "I ended up having a six inch fracture in my skull.

“St Michael’s Hospital in Dun Laoghaire sent me in an ambulance to St Vincent’s who did a CT scan which showed up bleeding in my brain.

“It was putting extreme pressure on my brain and skull, which, if it had not been diagnosed and had surgery, would have led to my death within 48 hours.

“So they immediately sent me in an ambulance to Beaumont Hospital who had surgeons waiting there to perform surgery immediately.”

Two neuro-surgeons performed a three and a half hour procedure on Mr Carter who also suffered blood clots.

BLOOD

“The surgeons had to open my skull up,” said Mr Carter. “Whilst doing this a part of my skull crumbled and had to be removed.

“They stopped the blood clot and drained the blood from my brain successfully.

“They had to put two titanium plates and screws in my head to hold my skull together, from where they had to cut open my skull and also where the skull bone crumbled.”

Mr Carter is continuing to recover from his injuries and still suffers severe headaches.

Sources have revealed that the “net may be closing in” on the thug responsible. The attack followed a verbal altercation between Mr Carter and a rickshaw driver at Grafton Street.

The Herald has previously published CCTV images of the alleged attacker which show him walking down Grafton Street from the St Stephen’s Green area along with another male and female.

The images show the alleged culprit is a white male, aged in his early to mid-20s, tall, well built, casually dressed, wearing a white T-shirt under a jacket.

The female is described as being of slim build, with dark hair. She was wearing a short black blouse and carrying a handbag in her right hand. The second male was black, tall, well built and casually dressed, wearing a black jacket.

The attacker singled out his victim and struck him a massive single blow to the head in what gardai say was a particularly brutal assault. Officers believe the alleged culprit may have been trained as a boxer such was the power of his punch.

The two people with the attacker tried to pull him away as the assault took place.

They then continued walking down Lower Grafton Street onto College Green.

WITNESSED

A crowd gathered around the victim and investigating gardai are requesting that anyone who may have witnessed this assault, or who was in the area at about 3am to contact them.

The investigation is being led by Det Insp Michael Cryan of Pearse Street Garda Station.

Officers would also like to speak to taxi drivers who may have picked up the three people that morning in the area around Westmoreland Street, Aston Quay and O'Connell Bridge.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Pearse Street on 01-6669000, the Garda Confidential Line, 1-800-666-111 or any local Garda Station. 

Visa fee waiver boost for visitors

Up to a million people from a select number of Arab, Asian and eastern European countries living in the UK will be allowed a free visa to visit Ireland from today.

The initiative is part of the Irish Government's visa waiver scheme which allows tourists and business chiefs from 16 countries to travel to Ireland without a visa if they pass through UK border controls.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny described the programme as visionary, while Justice Minister Alan Shatter said it would help woo business tourists linked with the London Olympics.

"So for India, China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to name a few, this offers a unique opportunity for them and for us to say 'come to Ireland'. The extent of flights from Britain is so frequent that it's only a short hop across," Mr Kenny said.

The countries involved include Belarus, Montenegro, the Russian federation, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, India, Kazakhstan, China and Uzbekistan.

Tourists or business chiefs will be allowed to travel to Ireland and stay for up to 90 days without an Irish visa if they passed through the UK on a valid UK visa.

Citizens from the selected countries who are long-term legal residents in the UK will need a visa to travel to Ireland, but will have their fee waived.

It is estimated that there are up to one million people in this category.

Normally, a single entry visa for Ireland costs 60 euro, while a multiple entry visa costs 100 euro.

The visa waiver scheme is a pilot project due to run until the end of October 2012.

But Justice Minister Alan Shatter said he expects the scheme to be extended and to include other countries.

"It's not just aimed at the tourist industry, which of course we hope will get a boost from it," he said.

"It's aimed at business. There are many people who visit the UK who are interested in doing business who in the past haven't necessarily considered coming to Ireland and simply because of filling in forms and paying visa fees, just haven't bothered." 

Rock legends Bon Jovi take time out to sample a slice of Dublin

 

ROCK legend Jon Bon Jovi took some time out from his Dublin concerts for a slice of pizza.

The Bon Jovi frontman was in the middle of his preparations for the Irish leg of his Circle World Tour in the RDS when he decided to pop across the road for a slice in a Ballsbridge restaurant.

Getting ready to wow 60,000 Irish fans is hungry work. But luckily for Jon, chef Luciano, from Bell & Bellucci, was on hand to personally ensure the singer got the very best.

The restaurant is just across the road from the RDS.

"We were delighted to see Jon himself come into the restaurant, and even happier to serve him one of our exceptional pizzas," Luciano said.

The band are in town to play two concerts. The first took place last night.

There was a threat of rain before the New Jersey band rocked Dublin last night, but the sun came out just in time as they took to the stage.

Some 30,000 fans saw the band play the first of their two gigs in an arena more accustomed to horse shows and Leinster rugby matches yesterday.

The rockers will be belting out a 28-year back catalogue of their classics again tonight.

Pizza was about the extent of superstar demands the rockers made for their concerts this week.

There were no diva-like requests in the run-up to the shows with Bon Jovi so laid back that they were happy to use the Leinster rugby team's changing rooms rather than bring in their own luxury trailers.

The band's popularity never seems to decline in Ireland with Wednesday's show sold out and tonight's very close to the same, although there are some tickets still available from Ticketmaster.

Ireland is thought to have one of the largest proportions of diehard fans.

Emma ready to go back to school after handing over crown 

REIGNING Miss Ireland Emma Waldron has vowed to take a leaf out of glamorous teacher Aoibhinn Ni Shuilleabhain's book when she returns to the classroom next September.
The bubbly beauty queen explained how she will be trading her high-flying life as a catwalk queen for a stint in front of the blackboard this autumn to complete the final year of her degree as a primary school teacher at St Pat's training college in Drumcondra.
And Emma (22), who is due to go out on teaching practice immediately upon her return, admits she admires former Rose of Tralee Aoibhinn's no-nonsense approach when it comes to separating her public persona from her role as a teacher.
"I can't wait to go back to college and, I suppose, regain a bit of normality in my life," she laughed. "I'm hoping to keep up the modelling work and keep all that stuff going at the same time as well, but that will be my main priority for the year.
"I know myself if I don't do it this year then I'd never go back. I'll be going out on teaching practice straight away. I'm going back to the same school I was in before, I'd rather not say where.
"It will be a bit strange going in at first after being in the public eye but I suppose you just have to lay down the law straight away and establish that you won't take any nonsense.
"I think Aoibhinn (Ni Shuilleabhain) is a great role model. You just have to keep the two things separate like she does," she added. Emma went on to explain how she is looking forward to taking a family break in Turkey next month before hitting the books again.
The leggy AR model says her long-term boyfriend, Manners, will be unable to accompany the close-knit family on their trip, given that he is committed to being in Dublin for work at the time.
Prior to her sun holiday Emma can look forward to handing over her Miss Ireland crown at this year's star-studded ceremony at the D4 Hotel in Ballsbridge on August 13.
She says she is hoping to work with her successor and help her prepare for this year's international pageant on November 6 in London.
Emma says: "The year has absolutely flown by. It's been a great year, I've had a ball. I've seen some of the girls and they all look great.
"I would definitely like to work with them and give them some advice. They're lucky this year in that they'll have a bit of time to prepare before they head off. I think I had something like nine days to get ready after winning the Miss Ireland contest," she added.
Among the strong contenders for this year's crown is Miss University Holly Carpenter, the grand-daughter of late Terry Keane.
TV3's Elaine Crowley and Celebrity Salon star Elaine Butler Doolin will both be on the judging panel, while TV3's Sinead Desmond will host the pageant finals.