A serious attack occurred in an area of the Phoenix Park frequented by gay men, a witness has revealed.

The witness, who lives in nearby Castleknock Village, contacted The Outmost to describe what he saw last Friday at 3pm in the park. He described the victim a man in his late 40s to early 50s, who was in the cruising area of the park. His three attackers were posing as gay men.

An altercation was noticed by one of two witnesses who have come forward. The attackers, who were Irish with large, muscular builds, took tools from their pockets and started to beat the victim, who escaped to his nearby car.

The incident continued when the victim’s car was attacked by the three men, who proceeded to chase the victim in their silver Audi vehicle through Castleknock before exiting their vehicle to further attack the victims car.

The witness, who followed to get the registrations of both cars, ended up between the two vehicles in traffic. He called the Gardaí at this point to report the incident.

The Gardai have since confirmed that all three assailants were arrested, though the incident is not being treated as a homophobic attack. The witness told The Outmost that there has been a “noticeable increase” in Gardaí patrolling the area in which the attack took place in recent weeks. He says that it is “seriously important” that men who frequent the area are warned of the elevated dangers at this time.