Republican News · Thursday 11 July 2002

Kilkeel youth savagely beaten

18-year-old Catholic youth related to the Greene family, who lost three of their relatives in the Kilkeel fishing tragedy, was savagely beaten by loyalists in the early hours of Saturday morning 6 July.

The youth, who does not wish to be named, was beaten unconscious in the attack, which happened as he left a bar in Kilkeel town centre at 2am on Saturday.

The young man was kicked unconscious and woke up in Daisy Hill Hospital, in Newry where he had to have 13 stitches to his face. He was also treated for extensive bruising all over his body.

"They were out to kill me," he said.

The attack took place just 50 metres from the RUC/PSNI station, but when the young man reported the incident to the RUC/PSNI he was told that if he heard or saw anything to contact them.

"The RUC/PSNI could have done more. There was no RUC/PSNI about Kilkeel when those loyalists attacked me," he said.

Local Sinn Féin councillor Martin Cunningham said "this young man is very lucky to be alive. This crowd set out to kill him, this was attempted murder".

He said that earlier in the evening the same loyalist gang had gone on the rampage and attacked five other nationalists, trying to push a broken bottle into the face of one. They stole watches from two of these people. The also attacked Catholic owned homes in Kilkeel breaking a number of windows.

A local resident said they went to the RUC/PSNI to see if they had recorded the attacks but were told "there was no tape in the camera".

Meanwhile, Martin Cunningham criticised media reports that a young Protestant youth who was beaten up two weeks before had been beaten by nationalists. According to Cunningham, the youth was beaten by loyalists, who targeted him because he was going out with a Catholic girl.