NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish Pubs Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > News > Catholic teenager badly beaten in Belfast sectarian attack

Catholic teenager badly beaten in Belfast sectarian attack

Film extra runs for his life as Protestant mob chases him

JAMES O'SHEA,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 7:17 AM

Updated Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 10:30 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

81 Comments

Catholic man beaten to within an inch of his life (Photo of mob clashes with Catholics causing disturbance in Belfast in July 2011 )

Photo by AP

A Catholic teenager on his way back from a film extra gig was beaten to an inch of his life and left for dead when he drove through a Protestant neighborhood in Belfast.

James Turley was an extra on the movie “The Good Man’”starring Aidan Gillen.

He and four other Catholic friends were driving through the Village area in Belfast near the city center when a mob of Protestant youths set on them, reports the Irish Independent.

The gang surrounded their car and they were forced to abandon it and run for their lives.

He ran to a nearby house and screamed at the occupants “"Please help me. They're going to kill me."

-----------------

Read more:

More news from Ireland on IrishCentral

Michelle Obama felt Irish American political leaders had far too much power

Ireland to witness Northern Lights spectacular in coming weeks - VIDEO

-----------------

The gang surrounded the house shouting "There's a Taig(Catholic) in there."

He said: "They all just came in and started beating me."

He said. "They stamped on my head and everywhere. The woman (the householder) said: 'Get him out of my garden' and they dragged me out into the alley.

"They just started beating me again. They put me in a bin and were pushing me somewhere. I didn't know where I was going ... when I got put in the bin I thought that was it.

"I think they realised they couldn't beat me when I was in the bin. They kicked or pushed it over and dragged me out of it."

The teenager was beaten unconscious "I started to come around and then I heard them saying: 'That's enough. I think he's dead'."

Later he managed to flag down a passing car and he was driven to the hospital.

His mother Donna, whose husband Frank was murdered in 1998,said: "It's like deja vu. I can't remember getting to the hospital. I just kept thinking: 'Please, please, just let him hang on for me'."

He is expected to make a full recovery.

Nster.com

E-mail

81 Comments

15 - 81 | See all comments

DanOLoingsigh | Jan 14, 2012, 04:29 AM EST

Sirpete – I was not comparing the two crimes…(although a murder is more serious than an assault where the victim is ‘expected to make a full recovery’) I was contrasting the reaction on this site to the reporting of these crimes…that is quite different. The reaction is there for all to read…or not read on the other post, because nobody bothered to comment...

Report abuse

seanomelbourne | Jan 12, 2012, 06:07 PM EST

No one on this site has condoned sectarianism,using the silly argument that "if it was a protestant youth" is a cheap shot. Nationalist in the north east of Ireland have suffered institutionalised bigotry for decades,unionist never suffered this indignity. Ciara and her like do not have the stomach to accept and condemn what happened and to some degree still happening today.Unfortunately they are stuck in a modernity of facebook and twitter where a few phrases is all that the brain can cope with at one time. The other posters just hate nationalists

Report abuse

ciaradexy | Jan 12, 2012, 05:17 PM EST

Why cant we all just get along?

Report abuse

Realist | Jan 12, 2012, 04:03 PM EST

sirpeter: Laughable....man, you're a liar and a bigot. Threatening to send people viruses now? When are you going to grow up? "It has always been the Protestants who are creating the problems"? Really, tell that to the family of Robert McCartney. Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse....lol, yawn.

Report abuse

Realist | Jan 12, 2012, 03:54 PM EST

ciaradexy: "If it were a protestant kid attacked by catholics the IC wouldnt have bothered posting the article!" Lol....do bears defecate in the woods? Is Clark Kent really Superman? It's funny how many of those condemning this act of violence are more than comfortable with issuing threats to others who do not share their take on things.

Report abuse

ciaradexy | Jan 12, 2012, 08:33 AM EST

Its Ni Mhurchu Brendan. And I have been to Antrim, you're a right group of nasty small minded bigots up there much like a lot of nasty republicans and Unionists. You're pretty much all the same so you have more in common than you think. Sectarianism is not ok regardless of your background.

Report abuse

BrendanDunphy | Jan 11, 2012, 11:38 PM EST

@ciaradexy ... Is your last name either Cromwell or Thatcher by any chance? Come up to Armagh and we'll show you first hand how we feel about the UK. Or, you can just continue to naively believe everything you read.

Report abuse

sirpeter | Jan 11, 2012, 09:19 PM EST

@ciaradexy.I like people who talk and I know you believe in what you say.There is only one problem.Your experience and comments revolve around your bubble.Serious.I can't agree with most of what you say.Why are you throwing out your email addy for?I could send you a virus that would send smoke out of your hard drive as soon as you clicked on it.It's just not good practice.

Report abuse

sirpeter | Jan 11, 2012, 08:57 PM EST

Seano..Well said.This is pure sectarianism.It's a learned behavior."Get him out of my garden"A mans life is about to be taken away.Of course Dano is trying to relate the murder in Boston to NI.Ciaradexy speaks more from her own personal experience.Which is honest.But wrong.They beat him up because he was a Catholic.The gang surrounded the house shouting "There's a Taig(Catholic) in there"Don't be a fu*kin lier.Don't be posting bullsh*t.See it for what it really is.We can't stop it until the protestants stop doing this.YES!! It has always been the Protestants who are creating the problems.Reacting to provocation is not bad behavior.

Report abuse

seanomelbourne | Jan 11, 2012, 06:36 PM EST

Turning a blind eye to sectarianism seems to be okay wth some posters on this site.

Report abuse

ciaradexy | Jan 11, 2012, 05:21 PM EST

The one whose email address is ciaradexy@gmail.com!

Report abuse

paddyRanger | Jan 11, 2012, 04:44 PM EST

facebook under Ciara Ni Mhurchu and I will give you a tour!..............there is 5 Ciara Ni Mhurchu's on FB...which one are you ? :)

Report abuse

ciaradexy | Jan 11, 2012, 06:08 AM EST

Dan, you just confirmed my point, thank you!

Report abuse

IrelandNorth | Jan 11, 2012, 05:50 AM EST

The trouble with choosing a cardinal compass point for an neo-provincial statlet is that it leads to such confusion. The nine counties of Ulster is the real 'northern' Ireland. But since Carson & Co. partitioned a province as well as a nation to manufacture consent for a protestant majoritarian six, that makes it north-eastern Ireland.

Report abuse

DanOLoingsigh | Jan 11, 2012, 05:47 AM EST

This article was posted same date/time as 'Teen charged with murder of Irishman in Boston' So one about a vicious assault, the other a murder...currently this other post has ONE comment...So why is an assault in Belfast more serious or noteworthy than a murder in Boston?...speaks volumes about what triggers reactions in the IC readership...maybe time for some posters to challenge their own prejudices? Wish this young man well, he's expected to make full recovery , and condolences to the victim's family in the other (ignored) post.

Report abuse