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Hero bus driver tells how he tackled firebomber after attack on Dublin restaurant

The man says he intervened after the thug targeted a Brazilian woman

Today at 07:01

A hero Dublin Bus driver who went to the aid of woman who had been attacked by a firebomber in the north of the city last week has spoken of how he wrestled the armed suspect to the ground.

The driver, who is in his 40s, came across the frightening scene in the early hours of Sunday morning, July 9, after the man had thrown two incendiary devices into a fast food outlet on Drumcondra Road Lower.

Footage of the incident was caught on camera and showed staff working in the restaurant when a fiery object was thrown into the kitchen area and burst into flames.

In another clip, a man clad in black is seen walking along the street outside the premises when he huddles just within view of a camera before emerging with a lit object in his hand.

As he prepares to launch the object into the restaurant, his jacket catches fire.

Astonishingly, he remains unperturbed as he throws the fire bomb into the restaurant. He then calmly takes another object from his pocket and uses the flames now spreading on his clothes to light it on fire.

He then throws this object into the fast food outlet before attacking a woman who had innocently stumbled across the scene.

He then assaults her and knocks her to the ground, all the while with his jacket still on fire, before both move out of view of the camera. However, their legs are still visible in the background as they wrestle in the background.

It was at this point that Alan, who did not want his full name revealed, came across the scene.

“I wasn’t aware that he had thrown these bombs into the restaurant,” Alan recalled. “I only arrived after he attacked the girl.

“It turns out she is a Brazilian student, in her 20s, and this guy had come out of the blue and just grabbed her. And that’s what you see on the video.

“He was dragging her along the road, away from the cameras, when I came along, on my bike, on my way home from work.

“She was trying to fight him off but what you don’t see on the video is he had a big kitchen knife that he pulled out of his pocket.

“At first, I thought it was two blokes fighting before I realised that it was a girl, screaming for help. I thought to myself, ‘this is a girl and she’s in trouble’ and that’s when I flew over on my bike and hit your man with it to get him away from her

“I wasn’t really thinking of my own safety as I have daughters myself. I’m not a hard man or anything like that, it’s just something took over me, and I went for it.

“I had him on the ground and the guards arrived in minutes, fair play to them. But I’ve no idea way he attacked that girl.

“She was really upset and had a cut on her leg from her she had been dragged along the ground. I had to try and help calm her down.”

Alan was unaware of the firebombing incident that had had occurred just moments before he arrived on the scene until he saw the footage posted on social media.

“I only saw the video later when it was shared on a WhatsApp group,” he revealed. “They’re calling me Batman in work, the Caped Crusader, but I was only thinking about getting her away from him at the time.

“I never cycle home at night,” Alan revealed. “It was just a coincidence I that had my bike fixed that week.”