Attack victim thought he would die
A man left needing hundreds of stitches after being slashed in the face feared he was about to die before friends reached him.
Gareth Brannigan (24) choked as he swallowed his tongue when he collapsed outside a nightclub in Cookstown, Co Tyrone.
"If it hadn’t been for my mates finding me so quickly, I just wouldn’t be here,’’ he said today.
He must undergo massive surgery for the wounds after a thug shoved a jagged end of glass into his face when he was knocked unconscious.
Mr Brannigan, a Catholic, said: "Anyone who is capable of doing this should be locked up. I would like them to be like this and to feel what it is like."
Police do not believe the attack was sectarian and were shocked by its ferocity.
The victim lost a considerable amount of blood before he was rushed away for hospital treatment.
RUC Chief Inspector Eamon Foy said: "It’s a sad indictment of our society that someone has done this to another human being. The injuries are sickening."
Mr Brannigan added: "I would not wish this pain and grief on someone else or for their families to go through with it."
