Taxi driver hailed for saving pensioner’s life after attack

THE sister of a pensioner who was viciously attacked and beaten by three youths has said she believes her brother would have been killed if a hero taxi driver had not gone to his aid.

Eamon Horan was beaten, kicked and left bleeding on the ground during the savage assault as he made his way home from his local pub in Tralee, Co Kerry.

The 75-year-old had his jaw broken in two places, suffered a fractured nose and sustained other nasty head, chest and facial injuries when he was set upon in a botched mugging.

The retired sports journalist, who suffers from a heart condition, was subjected to the savage, unprovoked assault after he had been approached and asked for money, but his attackers fled when an alert taxi driver stopped and ran to assist the shocked pensioner.

Mr Horan’s sister, Mary, remarked: “That taxi driver actually saved Eamon’s life. My brother would not be alive today only for him.”

The shocked Tralee man has now been transferred to the South Infirmary Hospital in Cork from Cork University Hospital (CUH) where he received three blood transfusions to treat a severe and prolonged nose bleed brought on by the attack.

“He is now beginning to talk a little bit again and he says if it wasn’t for the taxi driver he would be dead,” his sister said.

“I don’t even know the guy’s name but he put his life on the line because the attackers could have had a knife or anything. I hope the guards will get those three thugs.”

Meanwhile, Mr Horan’s daughter, Carla, has criticised the health service for adding to her father’s stress in the immediate aftermath of the assault, which occurred at 12.30am on Wednesday of last week.

Mr Horan was initially brought to the A&E department of Kerry General Hospital where he was treated on a trolley, but he was told that he needed to go to CUH for specialist treatment and dental assessment.

Despite his serious injuries, the retired journalist was told he couldn’t be transferred by ambulance because he had not been admitted in Tralee.

“We took a taxi to Cork at our own expense and luckily we were able to do so,” said Ms Horan, who added that her father has private health insurance.

No beds were available in CUH so Mr Horan returned to Tralee by train before he was finally admitted to the Cork hospital last Tuesday morning after he started bleeding heavily from his nose.

“It has been absolute hell, an absolute monumental trauma. Dad was placed under undue stress because of the lack of direct access to appropriate treatment,” his daughter said.

She said she hoped gardaí would quickly track down the three men responsible for the cowardly attack on her father which occurred as he walked to his Tralee town centre apartment.

“These low-life individuals are still at large and are lurking out there somewhere,” Ms Horan said.

The retired sports journalist and former Irish champion handball player was a reporter with The Kerryman for many years.