The parents of an English teenager who claimed he lost his finger in a fight on St Patrick’s Day in Dublin now accept it was lost in an accident.
Eircom employee Billy Negal points to the fence in Britain Place, Dublin, where a human finger, belonging to Guy Wallace, was found this morning.
A Garda investigation uncovered CCTV footage which showed Guy Wallace (17) from Somerset attempting to climb a fence and then falling off near O’Connell Street.
After a search of the area this morning gardaí found the teenager's finger on top of the eight-foot metal fence.
Mr Wallace claimed on RTÉ Radio he was walking in the O'Connell Street area at 8pm when he was confronted by up to five youths and assaulted and lost his finger.
"My guess is that they put it over a kerb and stamped on it. The surgeon said it looked like a bite mark, but I can't believe that," Mr Wallace said.
Gardaí had hoped to re-interview Mr Wallace because he provided details of the attack in media interviews which they say he did not give in his statement to gardaí.
Gardaí investigating the incident arrested an 18-year-old man last Wednesday. The man was later released and a file sent to the DPP.
In a statement issued today, the teenager's parents, William and Lucy Wallace, said their son had been assaulted in a fast food restaurant on O'Connell Street and was sufficiently traumatised by it to link the incident with the accident which happened shortly after.
"On the night of the 17th of March Guy had spilt up from his friends, he was lost and very frightened after suffering an assault in a fast food restaurant where he received a 'head butt'," they said.
"Due to this assault he was sufficiently traumatised to link the event with the terrible accident that took place minutes later and genuinely believed that he had lost his finger in that assault.
"However, in reality it seems that during his panic-stricken run from the incident he attempted to climb a metal fence, which resulted in the loss of his finger."
Mr Wallace, a rugby player and keen pianist, underwent surgery in the Mater Hospital after the accident. He returned to England last Wednesday to attend a plastics unit to see if it would be possible to get a prosthetic finger.