By Damian McCarney
damian.mccarney@meathpost.com

A 21-year-old student was left for dead having been savagely attacked
just yards from his home on Saturday night.
Saved by his two friends who found him unconscious, they pair didn’t
even recognize him so badly was he beaten.
In the early hours of Saturday morning (19th) Gerard Murray was set
upon as he entered Herbert Place, off Flower Hill in Navan, beaten
repeatedly about his face and head.
The thugs took his wallet which had just €10 in it, a credit card, his
keys while they also stamped on his mobile phone.
After enjoying a night out in the town Gerard had left his two pals
Niall McGinn and Brendan Quinn 20 minutes earlier to make the short
walk to his parents home alone. The business student’s face was so
badly bruised and swollen that his friends did not recognise him when
they found him in a pool of blood. It was only when the ambulance
arrived minutes later to rush Gerard to Our Lady’s Hospital, that his
shocked friends identified him by his clothing.
Consultants carried out scans fearing he had suffered serious skull
injuries, but to his family’s relief his most serious injury from the
unprovoked attack was a broken nose.
Gerard has no recollection of the incident.
“The last thing I remember was leaving the night club and after that
it was a blur,” he told the Meath Post from his hospital bed. “The
next thing was I woke up here, I didn’t know what had happened.”
“I can’t believe this has happened,” said Gerard’s mother Paula, still
visibly shaken from the ordeal. “I don’t want it to happen to anyone
else. Flower Hill is not a safe place to walk, people need to be made
aware of it.”
Gerard’s shocked father, Brendan Murray, suspects his son could have
died had his friends not come to his aid.
“Being attacked at that time of night (about 3.20am), it could easily
have been the next morning before he was found, and since he was
vomiting up blood he could have choked,” said Gerard.
Gerard’s attack is not an isolated incident as one of his friends was
assaulted on Flower Hill late last year in a similar attack. Brendan
is hopeful that witnesses to the attack will contact the Gardaí.
“Hopefully someone will have spotted something and get the guys who
did this before they do it again, because they are going to do this to
someone else,” he warned.
Gardaí say they are investigating the incident but no arrests have been made.