Coleraine Assault Victim Ready To Quit

A double assault victim is not holding out for good luck a third time round.

The Co Londonderry victim, who has already survived one life-threatening beating and a second attack soon after he was allowed home from hospital, has had enough.

Having made it through a savage, coma-inducing sectarian attack - in which his friend, community worker Kevin McDaid was killed - now wants to flee his home after he was attacked for a second time.

After being beaten again by assailants suspected of being loyalists, Coleraine man Damien Fleming, said he now wants to leave the area - fearing a third such assault.

Mr Fleming was left fighting for his life after being attacked in the Heights area of the town. His friend, 49-year-old father-of-three Kevin McDaid, died after he too was targeted by the loyalists who went on the rampage after Rangers won the Scottish Premier League in May, in a row sparked by nationalist flag-flying.

Last Wednesday, 46-year-old Mr Fleming was set upon by two men at almost exactly the same spot where he was previously left to die.

It is understood the pair pulled up in a car and shouted sectarian abuse before attacking him.

Now he says he can't handle it and "wants out of this place".

In the latest beating Mr Fleming suffered a broken nose as well as cuts and bruises to his head and face and said he was living in constant fear.

On Friday, local Sinn Fein councillor Billy Leonard commented: "This is the double insult, a double injury.

"Nobody should be attacked in this way," he said.

(BMcC/KMcA)