THE mother of a 16 year old boy who was stripped naked, covered in paint and had part of his ear cut off during a vigilante attack in his Dublin home has spoken of her revulsion at the attack.
Mrs Helen Conlon, of Leix Road, Cabra, said she feared for her life following the assault on her son, Jason, by a five strong gang, during which her daughter, Caroline (15), was gagged and tied to a chair.
She said local people were outraged by the assault, which is thought to be linked to a vigilante group containing IRA members, and did not support the use of violence by anti drugs campaigners.
"Everyone is devastated about the way this happened. Everyone is saying the same thing, that a brutal attack should never have happened," Mrs Conlon told The Irish Times.
If it is drugs related there must be a better way of dealing with it, instead of these horrific attacks."
Five men, wearing balaclavas and armed with two handguns and lump hammers, burst into the house at 10.10 pm. on Monday last, forcing Mrs Conlon's daughter, Caroline, into a room where they taped her to a chair and gagged her. They then waited for her brother to return to the house.
When he arrived at about 11 p.m. they dragged him into the h9use, stripped him, beat him with lump hammers and threw a can of white paint over him. They severed his right ear before escaping.
Mrs Conlon's eight year old daughter remained upstairs during the attack. Caroline raised the alarm by alerting a garda whom she had seen leaving a nearby house.
Jason was being treated in the Mater Hospital and required help in going to the toilet and eating meals, said Mrs Conlon.
The severed part of his ear was reattached by plastic surgeons in an operation the next day.
Speaking on Liveline, with Marian Finucane, on RTE radio yesterday, Mrs Conlon said she was not aware of any involvement by her son in drugs, although she knew of drug problems in the area. "I have asked him if there anything he wants to tell me, but he says he has no idea who these people were."