On one night during the 1990s second-year arts student Gisèle Scanlon was making her way on to University College Dublin s Belfield campus. "You wouldn t expect the dog to be out," she recalls of the rough weather.
Gisèle Scanlon
Ms Scanlon says Mr Byrne didn t throw punches but just pulled the man away and helped her to her feet. He said nothing. I thought he would have shouted. It was all very silently done like a Zen Buddhist. After the intervention, Ms Scanlon s attacker didn t fight back - he just scampered away into the night.
The woman who is now president of Trinity Graduates Students Union has never forgotten her rescuer s friendly demeanour. I was looking at him and he had the kindest eyes I ve ever seen in a human being, she says.
After the danger was gone, and the attacker was nowhere to be seen, she walked towards her friends and Mr Byrne followed closely behind . In her view he was keeping watch.
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