Irishman fights for life after Sydney mugging

AN IRISHMAN is fighting for his life after a frenzied mugging in Sydney at the weekend.

The man’s face was so badly bashed that police had difficulty in establishing his age and identity.

It was later revealed that the man is a 29-year-old Irish national. His family have been informed of the attack.

The man, who has not yet been named, was discovered near the corner of Brook and Kidman streets in Coogee without his wallet or personal belongings just before 3am on Saturday. He remains on life support in the Prince Wales Hospital, where he was said to be in a serious but stable condition.

Meanwhile, a man who drowned in the sea during a stag party at a British seaside resort was named by police.

Ruairí Kelly, 28, who was from the Dublin area, was pronounced dead in hospital after being rescued from the sea next to the Palace Pier in Brighton on Saturday night.

Lifeguards attempted to save him along with another member of the stag group, but were unable to reach him in the rough sea.

He was eventually recovered by a crewman from the Brighton RNLI lifeboat.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said that a number of other people were also in the water when they attended the incident at 7.15pm. None of the others were injured.

A postmortem examination will take place in the coming days.