“I was doing my best to hold the thief on the ground while all these lads were aiming kicks and blows at him”
The man, who does not wish to be named, was praised for his actions by another passer-by who intervened when the pickpocket stole a woman’s wallet as she walked along O’Connell Street.
As the pickpocket was confronted by a Dublin man who saw the theft, he made off across the street and onto Henry Street in a bid to escape.
However, he was tackled to the ground by a New Zealand native who was then forced to defend himself from a mob who tried to attack the pickpocket.
“It was a situation that rapidly spiralled out of control,” the New Zealand man told sundayworld.com
“I was doing my best to hold the thief on the ground while all these lads were aiming kicks and blows at him.
“I was trying to ward of the blows while also trying to defend myself and telling them to back off.
“They then tuned their attentions onto me and I got one hard punch to the face that left me with a bit of bruise.”
Not only that, but he also suffered a fractured finger in the melee that only ended when gardai arrived.
“I was taken to hospital where I had to stay for most of the day,” he said. “I have my finger in a sling and it has to stay like that for six weeks.”
However, the man who had previously worked as a security guard in his native New Zealand said he did not regret his actions.
“No, it was the right thing to do,” he said, adding that he would do it again, if he had to.
Earlier this week, the other Dublin man who was caught up in the incident described the mayhem that broke out as he and the New Zealand man tackled the pickpocket.
The incident was captured in a number of videos that have been posted online.
They show a confusing brawl of people attacking each other on the street but this man told sundayworld.com what happened.
He had just got off a bus on O’Connell Street on his way to work when he noticed a woman who was targeted by two pickpockets as she was pulling her luggage along the street.
While she was distracted by one of the thieves, the other one took her wallet out of her pocket.
The Dublin man said he just turned around “and grabbed the pickpocket”.
“I’m keeping a hold of him while telling people to get the gardaí. He starts screaming and shouting and a group of people started gathering around.
“As we were waiting for the gardaí, he ran for it. He had a bag on his back and I managed to grab it off him but he bolted across O’Connell Street and up Henry Street.
“I went after him, shouting, ‘stop that man’ and suddenly this other guy passes me by and rugby tackles the pickpocket and takes him down.
“I was helping to keep the guy on the ground when were suddenly surrounded by all these other people who want to attack the pickpocket, who is lying on the ground.
“They start to accuse us of protecting this man and start attacking us. I managed to back away but the crowd then attacks the other man who had rugby-tackled the pickpocket.
“They knocked him to the ground and he took a bad beating.
“Myself and the pickpocket seek sanctuary in a shop behind the security guards while the crowd continue their attack on the man who had tackled the pickpocket and he’s battered to the ground.
“When the gardaí arrive, the pickpocket is taken away. And the lad who was battered gets up off the ground but he’s shaky on his feet, so they call a squad car and take him to hospital.
“It turns out he’s actually from New Zealand although he’s been living in Dublin for five years.
“But I told him, ‘don’t worry, no good deed goes unrewarded in this town’.”
Gardaí said they responded to reports of a theft from an individual on Henry Street, Dublin 1, shortly after 11am this morning, Thursday, October 17.
“A 30-year-old male was arrested at the scene and taken to a garda station in the city centre,” a spokesperson said.
“He has since been charged and appeared before Dublin District Court this afternoon. As the matter is now before the courts, no further information can be provided at this time.”
