'Please help me, ma'am' Irish woman comforts Indian man after racist stabbing

In an exclusive interview with India Today, Irish woman Jennifer Murray recounted the horrifying moment she rescued an Indian man who had been violently attacked in a residential neighborhood of Dublin. The man, a recent immigrant working for Amazon, was walking to his temporary home on a quiet Saturday evening when he was ambushed by a gang of about ten teenagers. According to Murray, who arrived just after the attack, the victim had been brutally beaten, stabbed multiple times in the face, stripped of his clothes, and falsely accused by the mob to justify the violence.

“He was set up by some teenagers who attacked him and stripped him of his clothing, they cut his face, they beat him, they robbed his clothes, they robbed his phone and they left him,” Murray said, describing the harrowing scene. She used a baby blanket from her car to cover him and called an ambulance- which took over an hour to arrive. Despite his injuries, the man remained extraordinarily polite and calm, telling her, “Please help me, ma’am.”

Murray revealed that the man had only recently arrived in Ireland, leaving behind his wife and 11-month-old baby in India. He was in shock, severely traumatized, and deeply embarrassed by the attack. A brain scan later confirmed the extent of his injuries. The incident, which Murray says was entirely unprovoked and motivated by racism, is one of several similar assaults in recent days targeting Indian men — all involving facial stabbings by the same teen gang.

The Garda have launched an investigation, but concerns remain about Ireland’s juvenile justice laws, which may prevent full accountability for the attackers. Murray, now in daily contact with the victim, has vowed to help him recover and to continue raising awareness about hate crimes in Ireland.

Q: Can you walk us through the exact moment you first saw the victim and realized something was wrong? What were the reactions of the people around the victim before you intervened?

A: So it happened on Saturday evening in a housing estate in Dublin and actually it's a very nice place where it happened. It's not a lower class place, there's really nice people who live there and he was set up by some teenagers who attacked him and stripped him of his clothing, they cut his face, they beat him, they robbed his clothes, they robbed his phone and they left him.

When I arrived on the scene more people had come in, and they had come in and they had gathered, more teenagers had gathered and were continuing to verbally abuse him and nobody was helping.

There was one lady who was trying to stop the teenagers from further attacking him but nobody was actually helping the man. He stood there, he was extremely shell-shocked. He was withdrawn, he was submissive, he was begging for help.

It's still very hard for me because it was so sad to see anybody, any human being left like this from such an attack. So I was driving past in my car and I stopped and I got out. I came down to see what was happening and then I took him away from the scene.

I brought him over towards my car and I sat him down and I called an ambulance.

Q: Did you see him while he was under attack?

A: No, I just spotted him after the attack when he was standing on the side of the road. He was looking for help but nobody was helping, unfortunately, and the teenagers were continuing to try and attack him and to harass him. But, there was another lady who had arrived just moments before me, who was standing in front of them.

Then when I came, I shouted at them all, and I took the gentleman away, maybe about 20 feet so he was kind of safer with me down in my car until I was able to get him some help.

So his head was bleeding, his nose was bleeding, he was, he was completely covered in blood. Hundred percent of his body was just covered in blood.

So I had some shorts in my car and I used that to compress his forehead and then I had a blanket from my babies in the car and I used that.

So, he could cover his legs because they stole his clothes, they stole his underwear, and they stole his shoes.

Q: How would you describe your interaction with him in those moments?

A: When I actually approached him, he repeated over and over again his name and that he was Indian and said “please help me ma'am.” Then, when I sat him down and I talked to him, he explained to me that he had just been here for a very short period of time.

He was working for a company in Ireland that he had previously worked for in India.

He has family at home in India, he didn't have family here just yet because he had only been here a couple of weeks. He gave me his name and he gave me his address.

He was so incredibly polite, even in all of his wounds and all of what had happened to him, he was still such a nice person.

I promised him I would get him help. I sat with him and I comforted him.

Q: Have you had any further contact with the victim? How is he coping emotionally and physically now?

A: The man is extremely traumatized, beyond traumatized, which you can only imagine, is normal for the circumstance. So, I have a duty now to continue to protect him and allow him to heal and recover, which is the most important thing for him and his family. That's my priority.

Q: Did the victim tell you anything about what had happened before you arrived? Do you feel this incident has sparked enough national introspection on race and hate crimes?

A: The only reason I know about these attacks is that the police actually told me when they arrived on the scene. So as a member of the public, I was completely unaware of this.

It's not something that's ever been released in the media. This is the first attack that has been released because of the video that I made that went viral.

I do think it is important for the Irish people and the Indian people to know that this is happening, but also that there are good Irish people who don't want this.

We don't want racism. We don't want attacks. We don't want any violence on our streets. We want peace.

And we are here to welcome "Cad mle filte" (traditional Irish Gaelic phrase that translates into “a hundred thousand welcomes”), welcoming everybody who is contributing to our society and who is making Ireland a better place.

There were lots and lots of us who felt that way. I think it's important to highlight that this is a horrendous incident that has happened. There is no excuse. It is violent. It is vicious. It is terribly, terribly sad.

But so many people have come forward as Irish people to say, this is not what they want. This is not what they represent. They are here to support this gentleman, to support the Indian community and anybody else who is suffering attacks. We want it to stop also.

Q: The Indian community in Ireland is reportedly shaken- how have you seen that fear manifest in recent days? Do you think they feel especially vulnerable or unsafe?

A: I do, and from the Indian community, they have reached out and told me in the last, maybe year or two, that these are people who are open, not happy about immigrants, not happy, about people coming to their countries in Europe. Obviously, I can't speak for anybody else, but they are in a minority and where there was a great hate incident, this has resulted in a great outpouring of love.

I do believe that where there is negativity, there is also huge amounts of positivity. And yes, there are people who do not want to be immigrants in our country. There are people who are very vocal about this.

However, there are lots of people who can apply logic, who are kind people who welcome people who contribute to our society. And you do not have this backward thinking.

Q: What role do you believe Irish citizens have in helping change the current atmosphere?

A: So, I am not representative of any political party. And I think that's important.

I'm representative of humans and of being kind and a voice for "no to violence" and "no to racism". I don't represent anybody. I am not here to have a war with anybody, to fight anybody, to waste my energy on people who, maybe, we can't change, but I want to help change where there is possibility, where there is hope and where we can be brave to step forward and be proud to be Irish and be proud to be not racist.

We can be Irish and say no to violence. We can be Irish and say no to racism, and we can still love our country just as much as anybody else but we do not want this on our streets in any capacity.

Q: Are you still in touch with the victim?

A: I text him every day a couple of times a day, sometimes to check on him, sometimes to update him on the media attention, and then sometimes just to tell him that this shouldn't have happened to him. He is an amazing man, a kind man.

He says he never wants it to happen to anybody else and that's important. That's why I have taken the job of raising awareness. However it never should have happened to him.

He is and was an important person and his life matters he is recovering slowly, very slowly. His injuries were extensive. They were not something that will heal in a number of days, maybe not even in months.

Mentally, I do believe it's going to be a very difficult road. But I am finding as much help as I can as possible for him with psychotherapists and doctors so that he receives the care that he needs and that he thoroughly deserves because nobody- Indian, Black, White, Irish- nobody deserved what happened to this man.

So I will do everything in my power to help him. The Irish community has also come forward to help him.

Q: What is the current situation? Do you have any updates on how the investigation is proceeding?

A: So, the current situation is that it is under investigation. I can confirm that the police are actively investigating all aspects of it on a daily basis. They want these people to be off the streets and they want these people to be punished.

However our laws in Ireland are not strong enough to prosecute teenagers who commit such crimes. They are underage criminals and when they commit these crimes they do not get the same consequences as an adult would.

That is a problem in our society and I know, we as a nation, want that to change because nobody should be able to commit these crimes regardless of age. If you are capable of this crime, then you are capable of the consequences.

So, we hope that the Irish government listens and we hope that the Irish government changes their laws so that these people, when they are caught, are able to be punished in the right way as opposed to their age protecting them.

Q: What do you think triggered this attack?

A: There was no trigger and I think that's very hard to admit. But that is the truth.

There was no trigger. This man was very simply walking down the road in a housing estate and it was a sunny Saturday evening. It was daytime, it was 6 p.m and he told me he was on route to his temporary home. It was completely unprovoked which does make the attack worse. There was no reason.

The only reason is racism. It is a hate crime and that's not okay.

- Ends