A gang of teenagers set upon him, pulled him off his bike and stole it while also beating him with his own bike lock.
Mugged for his bike, beaten with his own lock
Gardai have launched an inquiry after a bar worker was pulled from his bike and robbed and beaten while cycling home from work at the weekend.
Leon Redlinski at one point had his bike lock yanked from him by a seven-man gang of teenagers before one of them used it as a weapon to beat him with.
A Polish national living in Dublin, he said he had been working at Taste of Dublin in the early hours of Sunday morning when he was set upon.
The attack occurred close to his home in Finglas, north Dublin, at the end of his commute from the Iveagh Gardens in the south inner city.
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At first the group of teenagers tried to pull him off his bike and were asking for cigarettes.
Cleaned up after the attack and a Giant 'Escape' like the one that was stolen.
However, when he said he didn’t smoke and kept riding one of the group a large stone at him, hitting him on the head and forcing him to a halt.
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One of the group walked behind him, grabbed Redlinski’s bike and cycled away. Though injured, the victim gave chase and managed to get his bike back.
However, when the others in seven-strong group, aged between 14 and 17 years, saw their associate losing the bike, the incident turned very violent, he said.
“When his mates seen him loosing the struggle they circled me and started throwing punches and kicks from all angles,” he explained of the reaction when he initially got his bike back.
“I managed to defend myself but they wrestled my backpack and bike chain away and started using it as a weapon,” he added of the incident at 2:40am on Jamestown Road, Finglas.
He said he was “repeatedly bashed over the head” with the lock as he was trying to fend off blows from the others.
When his injuries resulted in heavy bleeding he said one of the teenagers urged the others to stop.
However, while he managed to retrieve his bag, phone and house keys, his wallet and Giant hybrid bike were gone.
The attack place very close to his home and Redlinski said having lived in Dublin for 15 years nothing even remotely similar had happened to him before.
He added he was very grateful to the paramedics and A&E staff at the Mater Hospital who had treated him so well.
“It broke my heart to hear the doctors say that it makes them feel like they should be ashamed of, or apologise for, their own country,” he added.
He also urged anyone with information to contact Finglas gardai and for people to watch out for his Giant bike
“It’s a black M size frame, Escape model, by Giant with a slightly bent-in front fork,” he explained.
The investigating officer Garda Tara Doyle can be contacted in Finglas station on 01 6667500.
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