Foreigners fight for lives after attacks

TWO non-nationals were fighting for their lives in hospitals last night after separate vicious assaults over the weekend.

One non-national in his late 20s suffered severe head injuries after he was attacked in Limerick yesterday afternoon.

He was transferred from Limerick Regional to Cork University Hospital late last night.

And two 18-year-olds are due in Dublin District Court today in connection with a savage assault on a Lithuanian man in Dublin on Saturday night.

Last night, gardaí in Limerick issued an appeal for witnesses to an attack on a young man, believed to be from Eastern Europe, in Dooradoyle about 4pm yesterday.

The man, who has been living in Limerick for some time, had a meal in a nearby Chinese restaurant and was walking across the forecourt of a Statoil petrol station, about 100 yards from the Mid-West Regional Hospital, when he was attacked.

It is understood he was attacked by more than one person and that he may have been beaten with a petrol pump nozzle.

The motive for the attack is unknown.

Gardaí at Roxboro sealed off the scene and secured CCTV footage from a number of businesses in the area.

Their investigations were ongoing last night.

Meanwhile, in Dublin, a third teenager was still being questioned last night in relation to the assault on a 48-year-old Lithuanian man on Saturday night.

The man received serious injuries to his head, face and neck after being set upon by four youths near Binn’s Bridge on the Royal Canal at around 10pm on Saturday in what gardaí believe was a random attack.

“This was an horrific attack of frightening proportions,” said Chief Superintendent Eddie Rock.

The victim was in the country for just a couple of months and gardaí were trying to contact his family last night.

The man was walking home with three fellow nationals as they crossed into Drumcondra, near Croke Park, at around 9.30pm.

There they were confronted by four youths, who were out drinking.

They chased the victim some 200 yards along a road parallel to the Royal Canal.

When he fell, the youths subjected him to a repeated and vicious beating. He was taken the short distance to the Mater Hospital.

This is the second serious assault in the area in days.

Last Friday, a 20-year-old suffered serious facial injuries in a glass attack. The victim was standing outside a pub on Dorset Street at around 2.35am when he was assaulted by a man in a beige tracksuit top.