'For the first time in my life, I was scared' - Cllr talks about verbal attack by gang of 12-year-olds
A Meath County Councillor has admitted that he has "never been as scared in his life" after being verbally abused and spat at by a gang of intimidating youths.
Independent Cllr Nick Killian is now calling on all parents to ask themselves if they know where their children are and who they are with at night time.
"The most worrying thing is that these kids were only between 12 and 14 years old," he said.
"I was on my way to the shops and asked this gang of about 20 youths to move out of my way,
They started intimidating me and verbally abusing me with ripe language and one of them spat across me.
"I'm a 70-year-old man and I at least thought that teenagers would have some level of respect for the elderly but these had none.
"One woman came over and stood with me but I can honestly say that for the first time in my life, I was scared.
"I've had run-ins with young people before and tackled them over their behaviour and they've always been respectful in their own way but this was different. They had zero respect and that maddened me as well. "
Since the incident last Tuesday night at 7pm, Cllr Killian has had a number of messages from people who have been intimidated by the young gangs.
"One person with disabilities asked them to get away from his car and when he came back out, there was a huge scrape down the side of it. Others said they were too afraid to leave the local shops because of the gangs hanging around the front doors in hoodies.
"Unfortunately, there is no garda presence in Ratoath and hasn't been for a long time, despite the growing numbers of over 12,000 people. But these young gangs boil down to the parents.
"This has really knocked the stuffing out of me and it is not a nice feeling. Ratoath has a huge number of young people and these account for a very small minority but you'd have to wonder, where do the parents think their kids are in the evenings or do they even care?" he asked.
