'Go back to India': 6-year-old girl assaulted in Ireland, mother says she no longer feels safe

A six-year-old Indian-origin girl was brutally assaulted by a group of older boys outside her home in Waterford, Ireland, in a racially charged attack where the assailants yelled, "Go back to India"—marking the first reported hate crime of this kind against a child of Indian descent in the country.

The attack occurred Monday evening, August 4, while the child was playing near her home. Her mother, a nurse and recent Irish citizen, said she left her daughter briefly to feed her infant son but kept watch from inside. Within a minute, her daughter returned home in tears, visibly shaken.

“She couldn’t even talk, she was so scared,” the mother told The Irish Mirror. A friend of the child revealed that a group of boys—aged between 12 and 14—had punched her in the face and struck her in the private parts with a bicycle. One girl, around eight years old, was also part of the gang.

The attackers reportedly used racial slurs and profanities during the assault. “They said the F word and ‘Dirty Indian, go back to India,’” the mother said. The child also told her she was punched in the neck and had her hair twisted.

The mother, who moved to Waterford’s Kilbarry area earlier this year, said her daughter is now terrified to go outside. “We no longer feel safe here, even right in front of our own home,” she said. “I thought she would be safe here.”

Despite the trauma, the mother isn’t seeking punishment for the boys but wants them to receive counselling. “We came here to fill a labour gap… we are professionals, we have all the certificates,” she said, highlighting the contributions of the Indian diaspora in Ireland.

This assault follows a disturbing pattern. In the past month alone, there have been at least three other attacks on Indians in Dublin, including a 40-year-old man who was stripped and beaten in public.