Dublin : A six-year-old Indian-origin girl is the latest victim of racist attacks in Ireland. Nia Naveen, whose family hails from Kottayam in Kerala, was playing outside her house in Waterford City in southeast Ireland when a gang of children aged 12 to 14 attacked her.
Ms Naveen’s mother, Anupa Achuthan, told the Irish Mirror that the gang punched her daughter in the face, hit her private parts with a bicycle, punched her on the neck and twisted her hair. Ms Achuthan, a nurse, has lived in Ireland for eight years with her husband and recently got Irish citizenship.
It was around 7.30 pm and she was playing inside the house. She wanted to play outside and go cycling. I let her outside for a few seconds. My husband was at work on night duty. He was off to work, and I was alone with my 10-month-old and my six-year-old. She went out with her friends. I was supervising them just in front of the house. They were playing together and I knew they were safe,” the mother said, recalling the event.
Ms Achuthan said she went inside the house for a few minutes to feed her crying son, but her Irish-born little girl soon followed her in after around a minute– upset. She started crying. She couldn’t even talk, she was so scared. I had never seen my daughter like that. I just asked her friends what happened, and they were all so upset, they couldn’t talk. One of her friends said a gang of boys older than them hit her on the private parts with a cycle, and five of them punched her on her face, the mother said.
She told me five of them punched her in the face. One of the boys pushed the bicycle wheel onto her private parts, and it was really sore. They said the F word and “Dirty Indian, go back to India. She told me today they punched her neck and pulled her hair,” she added.
Ms Achuthan soon went out, and she saw the gang of children involved in the incident afterwards. She said they stared her down. I saw the gang after. They were staring at me. They know I am her parent. They were roaming around here. The boys were maybe 12 or 14. They were staring at me and laughing.
She recalled that when the family moved into the new house, her daughter was so happy as she got new friends and had places to play. Now I am really upset because she told me last night she was crying in bed and is really upset to play outside. I do not feel safe here, even in front of our own house, we believe she can’t play safely.
This was not the first racist attack on a person of Indian origin in Ireland. The county is still reeling from recent attacks in Dublin’s Tallaght and Clondalkin areas. In view of increasing racial attacks, the Indian Embassy in Dublin issued a statement warning Indian citizens to be careful in the country.
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