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Racism or Retaliation? Nigerian Man Denied Injunction in Dublin After Video Shows Him Attacking Neighbour

August 25, 2025

Racism or Retaliation? Nigerian Man Denied Injunction in Dublin After Video Shows Him Attacking Neighbour.

A Nigerian businessman in Dublin, Stanley Abayeneme, is facing trial for assault after claiming he was a victim of ‘rabid racism,’ including monkey gestures and bananas left at his shop. A judge denied him protection after viewing a video of the attack.

DUBLIN, IRELAND – A Nigerian national, Stanley Abayeneme, who claims he has been subjected to months of “rabid racism” by a neighbour, is now facing prosecution for assault in a complex and troubling case that highlights the fraught line between victimhood and retaliation.

An Irish High Court judge has refused Abayeneme’s plea for an interim injunction against his neighbour after viewing video evidence that showed him violently attacking the man. The judge ruled that Abayeneme had not come to court with “clean hands,” setting the stage for a legal battle where both men are positioned as both aggressor and victim.

The case, reported by the Sunday World on August 23, 2025, involves allegations of monkey gestures, threats of deportation, and a violent confrontation that was caught on camera.

Allegations of “Rabid Racism”: The Claims of Stanley Abayeneme

Stanley Abayeneme, who operates a car valeting business in Tallaght, Dublin, told the High Court that he had endured relentless racial abuse from his neighbouring businessman, a Lithuanian national named Vilmantas Zutkis.

In a sworn affidavit, Abayeneme detailed a campaign of harassment that he said took place in front of his customers. The alleged abuse included:

Dehumanizing Acts: Zutkis allegedly made “monkey grunts,” shouted “monkey” at him, and left bananas outside his business unit.

Threats of Deportation: Abayeneme claimed Zutkis threatened him and his employee, John Onuigbo Obinna, with being deported “back to Nigeria in a container.”

“He will come to my unit and racially abuse me and my worker,” Abayeneme stated in his affidavit, describing the conduct as aggressive and obstructive to his business.

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The Turning Point: A Video of a Violent Confrontation

Abayeneme had sought a restraining order against Zutkis, claiming that violence had only been directed at him. However, the case took a dramatic turn when the court was shown video footage from an incident in April 2025.

Ms Justice Emily Egan viewed the video, which reportedly showed Abayeneme:

Attacking Zutkis with a stick, visibly breaking it on his leg.

Throwing a ladder at Zutkis.

Damaging property by spray-painting windows.

After seeing the footage, Judge Egan refused to grant the injunctions. She stated that it was her view Mr. Abayeneme had not been truthful in his written evidence and therefore had not come to court with “clean hands”—a legal principle which holds that a person seeking justice cannot be guilty of wrongdoing in the same matter.

Abayeneme is now facing prosecution for allegedly breaking two windows in his neighbour’s unit.

A Troubling History: Previous Racially Motivated Attack

This is not the first time Abayeneme has been a victim of racial abuse at his place of work. In 2019, he suffered serious injuries after being brutally attacked by three other men in what he described as a racially motivated assault at the same location.

He was beaten unconscious with large tools after confronting one of the men for urinating in the yard. Speaking from his hospital bed at the time, Abayeneme recounted the horrific abuse he suffered during that attack.

“He was calling me a black monkey and saying I should f**k off back to where I came from,” he said of the 2019 incident. “He was shouting abuse at me, saying we were taking jobs and food while we are here.”

This history establishes a clear pattern of him being targeted with racial hatred in the area, adding a tragic and complex layer to the current dispute.

What Happens Next?

Following the alleged assault in April, Abayeneme’s landlord, John McLaughlin, served him with a notice to quit and blocked access to his business unit with a 40-foot steel container. The court heard that the landlord is prepared to allow him supervised access to retrieve his assets.

While the request for an injunction has been denied, the overall legal proceedings involving the claims of racism, the assault charges, and the dispute with the landlord are set to return before the court this week.