Gardai are hunting for a man who, from a passing car, grabbed a 13-year-old out training before holding onto him for a period from the moving vehicle and then flinging him into the ditch.
A 13-year-old cyclist from Emyvale CC in Co Monaghan is recovering after being attacked out training in an incident his parent’s believe he was lucky to survive.
Conor McKenna suffered road rash to his hands and elbows and was for a short period knocked unconscious when a passenger in a passing car leaned out and grabbed him, before holding onto him for a number of seconds and then pushing him into the ditch.
Young Conor bounced back into the middle of the road still clipped into the pedals as passing motorists went to his aid and forced oncoming traffic to stop.
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One of Conor’s neighbours witnessed the attack on the Emyvale to Monaghan road near Emyvale on Monday and chased the car carrying the attacker, but was eventually out-run by the vehicle and lost it.
The matter has been reported to local gardai who are said to be following a definite line of inquiry and appear to have suspects for the attack which could have had a much more serious outcome.
Conor’s father Richard told the Joe Finnegan Show on local radio station Northern Sound FM exactly what had happened to his son.
“The vehicle pulled up alongside him and the passenger in the rear, on the passenger side of the car, leaned out the window and grabbed a hold of him,” he said of the attack on the schoolboy.
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“He held on to him for a few seconds and pulled him in towards the car. Then he fired him towards the hedge and they went on about their business.
“When Conor went into the hedge he consequently flipped over and landed out in the middle of the road; he was at speed himself. And he was clipped into the pedals so where the bike went, he went.”
The boy was taken to Cavan General Hospital, and having been treated for cuts and abrasions he has been discharged.
“A young lad from Louth pulled up in a small transit van and stopped the lorry and another car on the road,” Richard McKenna said of the aftermath of the attack.
“Thank God he did because I can’t imagine what could have happened to Conor if he hadn’t been there. There’s absolute no doubt in my mind he wouldn’t be here today if that lad hadn’t stopped the lorry.
“Conor has been out cycling since he was 10 and loves it. He goes out every day for 20 or 22 miles at a time and we always tell him to make sure he is careful and to obey the law of the road.
“We never dreamt that someone would do something like that to a child. It was a mindless, random act of absolute madness, and it could have been absolutely anybody. Would they have done that to a pensioner?”
Gardai are looking for a maroon coloured Peugeot 306. The vehicle has a Northern Irish registration and had been seen in the area at the time. Anyone with information should call any Garda station or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
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