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Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland

American tourist "overwhelmed" by offers of help after being mugged in Dublin

The American man was offered places to stay around the country.

AN AMERICAN MAN who was mugged in Dublin over the weekend has said that he was “overwhelmed” by the kindness of Irish people after the incident.

Donnie, from Chicago, spoke on RTE’s Liveline today about being mugged in Dublin city centre on Sunday night, and having his wallet, phone and passport stolen.

He said he was walking along the north quays, near Bachelors Walk, when he asked a woman on the street for directions.

In his own words:

I have an awful sense of direction, I get lost in my own apartment, so I stopped and asked this girl where the hostel was and if she could direct me there.

He said the woman seemed friendly and was walking with him to show the way. He said two men were walking alongside her, when the four of them turned a corner and one of the men pulled a knife on him.

They said: ‘give me all your money’, and the guy behind me, I could see out of the corner of my eye, had a knife. I was frozen in terror, I didn’t know what to do, I was gonna get knifed.

He gave them his wallet, which had €20 in it, but said they weren’t happy with that,

“They said: ‘You’ve got more than that’ and they started punching me in the face, and one of them had me in a headlock and was choking me.”

Donnie then gave them his iPhone, and they ran off with it and all his other belongings. He suffered a concussion, a broken tooth and a cut lip and attended hospital the following day.

Donnie was upset that the incident had happened, and was unhappy that he had to cut his journey short after the theft of his cards and wallet.

Several listeners then phoned in to the RTE Radio One show, while he was on air, and offered him places to stay free of charge so he would not have to fly home early.

Adrian from Cork phoned in and invited him to his home in Ballycotton at no cost.

He said:

You don’t need a passport, you don’t need any money, we’ve got our own currency down in Ballycotton.

Another caller, Dee from Roscommon, who lives on the banks of the river Shannon said he is more than welcome to come up and stay a few days with her.

Adrian, who was still on the line, offered to drive him up to Roscommon after his time in Ballycotton.

Mark Mulvey, who runs a hostel on Dublin’s Parkgate Street also phoned in to express his sympathy at the incident.

He has been helping Donnie and has been letting him stay free of charge in the hostel.

Several more callers phoned in and offered him places to stay and go in Cork, Galway, Mayo, a tour of the Cliffs of Moher, the Blarney Stone and he was even offered a car to use for the rest of his holiday.

Donnie was “overwhelmed” by the generosity of all the people who phoned in, and was delighted that he did not have to fly home early.

He said:

I want to say to everybody that’s been so kind with these offers, if you ever come to Chicago, mi casa es su casa.

He will have now enough to do and see in Ireland until he returns home on 21 May.

Read: How many tourists were attacked in Ireland last year? It’s the week in numbers >

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    Oct 24th 2018, 9:42 AM

    I SAID SUPPLIES !!!

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    Oct 24th 2018, 10:51 AM

    @Tom Harpur Photography: ok who hasnt thought about stabbing a co worker at sone stage? At least we dont have to see them 24/7

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    Oct 24th 2018, 12:30 PM

    @prop joe:let me know where you work…..just in case :)

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    Oct 24th 2018, 1:54 PM

    @Tom Harpur Photography: No doubt guarded by armed penguins…

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    Oct 24th 2018, 9:04 AM

    A game of knifey spoony gone wrong…

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    Oct 24th 2018, 9:31 AM

    with the cold spell earlier this year- orphelia/ I saw enough of the teenage kids to last me a lifetime…luckily Netflix was working

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    Oct 24th 2018, 12:29 PM

    I’m surprised the journal.ie didn’t blame Trump for this.

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    Oct 24th 2018, 1:01 PM

    @paul jones: no …it was to do with brexit

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    Oct 24th 2018, 9:35 AM

    Fighting over the last can of beer and what to watch on tv

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    Oct 24th 2018, 12:25 PM

    I can see it now ” if you play that Barry Manilow album one more time”

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    Oct 24th 2018, 9:50 AM

    Why is this article here?

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    Oct 24th 2018, 10:26 AM

    @Kermit: why are you here?

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    Oct 24th 2018, 10:30 AM

    @John: Who are you?

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    Oct 24th 2018, 11:21 AM

    @Kermit:
    Wow! Look at that castle!

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    Oct 24th 2018, 1:56 PM

    @Kermit: Because it is part of the new cold war…

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    Oct 24th 2018, 9:11 AM

    They lost the spoon.

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    Oct 24th 2018, 8:53 AM

    You farted ,, no you farted , no you farted ,, no you farted

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    Oct 25th 2018, 9:04 AM

    I said “sack the cook”

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