Saturday, 25 May 2024

Families' anger as DPP fails to bring charges for acid attack

Gardaí have informed families of two teenagers who were the victims of an alleged assault involving acid last April that two of the alleged perpetrators are not going to be charged.

They have phoned families with the decision of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), saying the two will receive juvenile cautions.

The families have reacted with shock and disappointment and say they will fight the decision.

Among those injured in the acid attack in Co Waterford was 17-year-old Tega Agberhiere, who has played for Ireland at under-17 level.

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He suffered horrific injuries to his face, eyesight and other parts of this body when the unknown substance was thrown on him.

His mother Christy says she wants to meet Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to discuss the case.

She is due to meet gardaí today.

Emma Daly, whose son Oisin was also injured, said she is very upset with the decision and is looking for a full explanation from gardaí and the DPP.

Padraig Sullivan, one of the three men injured in the incident, told ‘Deise Today’ on WLR he too is surprised by the decision and wants to know how and why the DPP came to the decision.

Nobody has yet been charged in relation to the incident which received national and international headlines at the time.

Two other teenagers were also questioned at the time and it is not known if charges will be brought against them.

Speaking in the aftermath of the attack, which happened when he was 16, Tega told how he feared he wouldn’t be “able to see another thing in my life”.

Fortunately his vision recovered.

He said he couldn’t describe the pain he felt when the corrosive substance was thrown towards his face.

“When I got it I thought I would never be able to see again.

“That was what I thought 100pc, that I would never be able to see another thing in my life,” he said.

Ireland manager Mick McCarthy was among those who wished Tega and the two other victims a speedy recovery.

He described the schoolboy as a “very promising young footballer and I hope and pray that he is back on the pitch in the very near future”.

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