Bashed tourist has brain surgery

NewsCore

7 April 2010

POLICE are looking for boys "as young as 10" in relation to a vicious assault on a tourist.

About 3:25am (AEST), Mark Willis and his girlfriend Jane McLean were leaving a bus at Rockdale Railway Station when they were approached by a group of up to 10 males, police said.

The males and the couple became involved in a verbal argument which became physical.

Mr Willis was assaulted by one of the males, before falling to the ground and hitting his head on the footpath. He was taken to nearby St George Hospital.

The males are all believed to be aged between 10 and 15 and of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean appearance. Police are urging them to come forward.

Ms McLean, also in her mid-twenties and from Scotland, was not injured. She has worked with police today to provide descriptions of at least four attackers.

Police have issued an appeal for passengers who were on the bus to come forward.

The incident is the latest in number of assault involving tourists in Sydney.

Three Irishmen have been bashed in the past 18 months. David Keohane was viciously bashed in Coogee in Sydney's eastern suburbs and a man was found not guilty of his attempted murder in March.

A 19-year-old was arrested in March for assaulting another Irishman. The victim punched in the most recent incident struck his head when he fell and has had surgery for serious head and brain injuries.

In a third incident, Irishman Gearoid Walsh, 23, was assaulted on a night out in Coogee. His mother Tressa had to fly to Sydney in October and make the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life support.

A man has been charged in connection with Mr Walsh's death.

From: http://extras.geelongadvertiser.com.au/rss_article.php?news_id=41501421