Man tells of rescue of deaf and speech-impaired woman during attempted sex assault in St Stephen's Green

The man, aged in his 30s and said to be homeless, was arrested following the horrific attack on the woman in the busy Dublin park on Monday afternoon.

The attack was thwarted by the courageous actions of Dubliner Pat Flynn, who beat the man off the woman with a tree branch.

Mr Flynn told the Herald he was standing with a horse and buggy outside the main entrance to the park when he heard screams coming from the bushes.

Fighting

"There's always drinkers and drug users in there fighting, so nobody pays any heed anymore. But I knew these screams were different," said Mr Flynn.

"I called the gardai and ran into the park. I followed the shouts into the bushes.

"And then I saw this man that I recognise with his trousers down, and he had a very distressed young lady on the ground with her trousers down and he was roaring at her," he added.

"I could see the girl scratching at the ground trying to get away from him, and he wouldn't get off her, so I picked up a big branch that was lying on the ground and I hit him with it across the back and head. I knocked him off her," he said.

Pat said the girl ran away from the man and curled up in the bushes.

"She folded up like a wounded, frightened animal. I've never seen anyone as distressed," he said.

"The gardai arrived then and they went into the bushes to get him out, but I think he tried to bite one of them. A lady guard went in to get the girl and helped her out and she was taken to hospital," he added.

"There was a whiskey bottle on the path that I think he threatened her with."

Meanwhile, gardai investigating a serious assault outside the Dandelion nightclub on Stephen's Green in the early hours of Monday morning which left the 45-year-old victim battling for his life have arrested a man in relation to the incident.

It is believed the man was struck once in the face but fell to the ground, subsequently hitting his head against the pavement.

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