A Californian man and his two Dublin friends were brutally beaten in Merrion Square park in Dublin’s city center.

On Tuesday evening, the US citizen, in his early 30s, and his friends were set upon by a three-man gang, reports the Evening Herald. The tourist had his head split open with a crutch. His friends suffered a broken nose and fractured cheekbone from punches and kicks to the head.

Their mobile phones, wallets, and cash were stolen by the trio, who are from South Dublin.
Police arrested one member of the gang but the other two escaped. The attack took place at 8pm on Tuesday evening. The US tourist and his friends had been relaxing in the park.

A uniformed police officer in the area reprimanded one of the attackers and arrested him. He has been identified as Adam Doyle, formerly of Grange Manor Road, Rathfarnham, but now living in a hostel, reports the Irish Examiner.

Although the other two escaped, police are confident they know the identities of the assailants.

“What happened in Merrion Square on Tuesday night is absolutely horrendous, but the sad reality is that this kind of thing is happening every day now,” a senior police source told the Herald.

"There has been a major increase in this type of crime in recent months especially in Dublin. The two men who were attacked required hospital treatment and all three victims are extremely traumatized about their ordeal.

"The garda who made the arrest should be commended for his quick thinking at the scene."

The man charged with the assault has already had a four-year suspended sentence for his involvement in the aggravated robbery of a Dublin shop. The Herald reports that during this robbery the staff were terrorized. A gang entered the shop with knives and hammers and stole cash and cigarettes.

In a sign of the violence that is engulfing our streets, the Merrion Square incident happened just hours after an 86-year-old woman was mugged on her way home from a bank in Kilkenny city.
Doyle will be charged for his involved in the Merrion Square attack later this week.