16-year-old who pushed woman into Dublin’s Royal Canal in racist attack avoids jail

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A teenager convicted of attacking a Chinese woman who was shoved into a canal in Dublin as she challenged young people over racial taunting has avoided a custodial sentence.

Video footage has gone viral on social media site TikTok of the woman protesting with laughing boys as she was suddenly thrown into the Royal Canal in Dublin 15, on the evening of August 14, 2020, after challenging young people about racial taunts.

Two boys, now 16, have been charged with assaulting Xeudan Xiong, 50, at Lock 12, Castleknock. They were 14 at the time.

They were found guilty by Judge Paul Kelly at a hearing in Dublin Children’s Court in September. The woman later told the court that she had forgiven her attackers.

The judge ordered probation reports on the couple with no previous criminal convictions.

Today, one of the attackers had his sentencing adjourned until January for an updated pre-sentence report.

The court imposed a 12-month bond on his co-defendant. This boy must stay out of trouble, remain supervised by the probation service and accept help from community organizations.

Failure to comply with the conditions could lead to the reopening of his case and the risk of a custodial sentence.

During the trial, Ms Xiong testified and the judge reviewed video footage from a cellphone used to film the attack and CCTV from a local store, which helped identify the suspects.

Ms. Xiong recalled walking along the canal, looking at fish and water lilies.

She stopped at a small jetty at Lock 15 between Castleknock and Ashtown. “All of a sudden” a bicycle sped towards her and stopped a foot or two away. Ms. Xiong said she jumped up in fear and two or three boys laughed.

“I screamed and they laughed at me,” she said, adding that they continued in the direction of Castleknock. She picked up a branch because she was “so scared” and didn’t feel safe.

Another group approached her and one boy ‘looked me in the eye’ and said ‘corona, coronavirus’. Ms. Xiong recalled feeling sad, but she continued until she met a third group of boys.

One of them was on a bike and circled her continuously, and she remembered saying “leave me alone”.

A few minutes later, she heard them shouting “Chinese noodles, fried noodles, a few times”.

Ms. Xiong turned around and sued them to tell them that it was racial discrimination. She also pulled out her phone to check them in, but they moved on.

Another group of boys surrounded her, and one of them asked, “What did you do to my friends?”

She was pushed suddenly. “The next thing I remember is being in the water,” she said, adding, “The only thing I remember is being in the water”.

She remembered retreating, and passers-by came to her aid and accompanied her to Blanchardstown Garda station. She later found out the boys had uploaded the video to TikTok.

The boys, who came to the proceedings with family members, cannot be named as they are minors.

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