AN ALARMING video of a giant rat running wild in a Northern Irish restaurant before meeting a grisly end has surfaced online.
The video, first posted to Twitter, showcases the shocking moment the large rodent fell from the ceiling at a busy restaurant before heading towards a table of diners.
Things then take a turn for the worse as the rat attempts to climb up the leg of a female customer on a night out with friends.
Eventually the restaurant’s waiting staff step in and, after a brief tussle, manage to trap the rat between two brooms.
It’s then that things take a grim turn, with one of the two waiters twice stamping on the rogue rodent until it stops moving altogether.
According to RSVPLive, the incident took place at the Ramore Wine Bar in Portrush, County Antrim in front of a restaurant full of paying customers.
Speaking to Northern Ireland's Q Radio, onlooker Stuart Houston described the chaos that unfolded.
"My friend who was sitting opposite me was able to see the long tail hanging down,” he said.
"A man came with two brushes and he started sticking the brush where the rat was and the rat fell to the ground - obviously that has a huge reaction, people kind of jumping back, screaming."
I can't actually watch this to its barbaric end but the owners of @RamorePortrush need to acknowledge the unnecessary cruelty its staff performed last night. I'm petrified of rodents but this isn't right #Ratmore pic.twitter.com/H5Kqw8moKA
— Northernsoul (@Norther16776095) April 17, 2019
"The rat comes to the ground and starts scurrying around, they lose sight of the rat, unfortunately so they begin moving around some tables, trying to see where it's at when all of a sudden it comes rushing out underneath towards the table where myself and my friends were sitting."
"It came straight for my chair and then I just felt it jump up on the back of my leg which was disgusting."
"I kicked it off and jumped away and the rat found itself trapped under the chair eventually by the table when a man came along with a brush just stuck it on it and just stamped hard on it which killed it."
"It was kind of shocking, very very surreal, we couldn't quite believe what was happening in front of us,” he told Q Radio.
"There was screams from people all around. There's children there. There was 25 to 30 people kind of in this area who hadn't been moved away, many of whom were in the middle of their meals.
"It was very scary, very stressful, very surreal for a lot of diners I think.”
The video has since been posted on Twitter, where it has divided many people, some of whom feel the fatal punishment metered out to the rat did not fit the crime.
See More: Antrim, Co. Antrim, Newsletterr, Northern Ireland, Rat
