'I don't dare to go out' - Chinese man left in fear after alleged assault in Cork

Martin Hong (pictured) claims the alleged incident took place in Ballyphehane on Saturday night. 

Gardaí in Cork are investigating an incident in which two Chinese men were allegedly racially abused and assaulted over the weekend.

Gardaí in Togher are leading the investigation into the incident, which occurred at Pearse Road, Ballyphehane, shortly before 8pm on Saturday, August 8.

Two men, Chinese nationals in their 20s, claim they were verbally abused by a number of male youths in the Pearse Road area before being physically assaulted.

Both men were taken to Cork University Hospital for treatment following the incident.

The men - Martin Hong and Arthur Ma, sustained cuts and bruises when they were allegedly attacked by three teenagers in Ballyphehane on the south side of the city.

Mr Hong told RTÉ radio One: "It was around 8pm when I was walking with my friend to do some grocery shopping.

"On the way, we heard some people talking about the Chinese virus as we were walking in their direction.

They were making fun of us but when we asked them to repeat what they were saying, they laughed at us and made fun of us. They also raised their middle finger towards us.

Mr Hong said when his pal tried to record the attack on his phone, one of the teens produced his own phone. The teenager claimed the Chinese nationals had been making derogatory comments about Ireland.

Mr Hong said: "My friend tried to film it because we did not want to get into any physical contact with them. We asked them to repeat what they said.

"They said we were racist and were saying bad things about Ireland.

"They tried to portray themselves as the victims."

The two men were then assaulted by two members of the gang.

"I stepped forward to try to reason with them and one of them just punched me. Both of my eyes got very severely bruised. I got punched in the eye and the nose, my nose was bleeding."

"I lost one of my teeth and, for one or two minutes, I lost consciousness when I fell to the ground."

Another member of the group allegedly attacked Mr Ma.

"We both ended up in hospital. A very nice old lady walking by called the police and the police took us to hospital."

Martin Hong was punched in the eye and lost a tooth in the attack.

The men required overnight hospitalisation arising out of the incident. They have been reluctant to talk about the attack.

The two men have lived in Ireland for over a year. It was the first time they had experienced such a violent incident.

"It happened around my home so I don't dare to go out from my home," Mr Hong said.

"I went out for some shopping yesterday and a teenager said 'hi' to me and I was afraid to reply."

Mr Hong has had to undergo dental work to repair damage to his teeth.

"Before now, all the racial things were verbal - this is the first time I got physically attacked."

"Since this pandemic began affecting the Irish community, the first racist comment I received was from some kids. They were toddlers, they had only learned to speak and they were already racially abusing (people). They were only kids and that is the shocking part."

Gardaí said they are following a definite line of enquiry and investigations are ongoing.