Four jailed over ‘savage attack’ on ‘Good Samaritan’

Four people have been jailed for a year for their part in what a judge described as a “savage” attack on a man who tried to help a woman in Londonderry.

Yasmin Anderson, 26, from Beachlands in Carnlough; Gareth McClurg, 32, with an address at Spencer Road in Derry; Teresa McGrath, 33, from Patrick Street in the city; and Kurtis Edgar, 28, from Carlisle Road in Derry were sentenced at Londonderry Crown Court on Tuesday.

They will each spend a further year on licence after their release from prison.

All four pleaded guilty to fighting and causing an affray outside the former Bank of Ireland building at Strand Road in Derry in May 2024.

CCTV footage shown in court captured the moment the victim was repeatedly punched and kicked by the group after approaching to help a woman lying on the ground.

The court was told the attack was witnessed by the victim’s three children, who were sitting in a nearby car at the time.

Judge Neil Rafferty KC said the four defendants had carried out “a feral and savage attack upon a man who was a Good Samaritan”.

“He saw a female prone on the ground and he tried to stop the fight to help her, at which point all of the defendants turned on him,” the judge said.

The judge said it was an “appalling incident” committed in broad daylight in the city centre that would have left three children “terrified”.