A MAN has appeared in Dublin District Court charged in connection with an assault on a British tourist on O'Connell Street on Saturday night.
Gardaí confirmed that a 20-year-old individual was arrested shortly after the incident on Saturday, July 18 at 9pm and that he appeared in court on Monday morning.
Dafydd Hughes, 45, who lives in Cheltenham, was waiting to board a tourist bus with his family when a man behaved aggressively towards him.
The victim had only been in Ireland for less than two hours when he was attacked with a glass bottle and sustained a wound to his head.
The attacker had also threatened to "gouge" his eye out with the bottle.
"We had only been one hour and 50 minutes in Ireland when it happened. We were standing at a kerb waiting for a tour bus to come along," Mr Hughes told The Irish Independent.
"A young man approached me with a bottle and said to me, 'Why are you smiling? You won't be smiling when I gouge your eye out with this bottle.'"
Mr Hughes was with his sons Logan, 11, and Joe, 17, his sister Sian and other relatives at the bus stop on O'Connell Street.
He suggested that the man could have been under the influence of alcohol and drugs when the incident took place.
“There was blood everywhere. I was bleeding heavily from the wound in my head. My son Joe tried to help me and the man then tried to punch Joe twice," he said.
Mr Hughes’ sister Sian is a medical doctor working in Australia, and she was able to attend to her brother’s injuries.
He insists that despite the attack, he still regards Ireland as a welcoming place to visit.
"The gardaí were very helpful and we really appreciate that," he said.
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