Victims tell of Princes Street gang attack

A MAN has told how he was brutally attacked after trying to intervene when he saw a woman being punched.

Ronald MacDonald and his brother Hugh had been heading home from a night out when they saw a man knock the female over.

Fearing that she was unconscious, they rushed to her aid – only to be attacked by a gang of men who had been standing nearby.

The attackers – who left one of the brothers with a trainer imprint on his face – are also believed to have assaulted the man who punched the young woman.

Ronald, 55, said he was “disgusted” that he and his brother were attacked when they were trying to help the woman, who is believed to be in her mid-to-late 20s.

Police have launched an investigation into the incident, which took place outside Princes Mall at around 3.20am on Sunday.

They are also probing reports that up to 25 people were near the scene at the time of the attack. It is not yet known whether they were involved in the assault or witnesses.

Ronald, from the Inch, said: “It was horrible. I was on the other side of Princes Street and we were crossing the road and looked over and saw the guy hitting the lassie.

“She went down, so we went to her aid. As we got halfway across the road there was a group of guys laying into the guy. We were still trying to get to the lassie. They attacked my brother first and the next I knew there was an ambulance.”

Hugh, 50, from Peffermill, was punched to the ground by the group, who then kicked him in the face, leaving the imprint of a sole. Doctors feared he had a broken jaw, but X-rays revealed that there were no fractures.

Ronald has “three layers” of cuts above his eye and on his eyebrow, and believes one of the attackers was wearing a ring.

“I’m in shock, I’m disgusted that this happened,” he said. “Imagine the ladies getting attacked for helping me, that’s what it’s like.

“I’ll never go along Princes Street now. It’s funny how we went to an incident, to find that we were victims ourselves.”

City Centre councillor Joanna Mowat said: “Any incident of this sort in the heart of the city centre, especially on the street which everyone knows the name of, is really concerning. It’s something that I will take up with the local police.”

She said she would press police to ensure that officers are placed in the most appropriate areas of the city centre, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights.