The family of an Irish immigrant who was the victim of a vicious assault in the Bronx, have flown from Ireland to be by her bedside.

Last weekend Alisha Jordan, from Skryne, Co Meath, was the victim of an unprovoked attack after the GAA player and a friend were targeted by a brick wielding man in the early hours of Saturday morning.

As previously reported by IrishCentral the two young women were walking along Katonah Avenue, in the Woodlawn area of the Bronx when the attack occurred.

The 21-year-old victim had her skull, cheek bone and teeth broken in the attack.

“The front of her skull is crushed. They’re doing re-constructive surgery where they’re putting a plate in her skull to hold it together,” her neighbor Rosie O’Reilly, told CBS. “She has 15 stitches between her eyes. Her teeth are broken.”

Her friend who was just steps ahead of Jordan explained what she witnessed to CBS.

“I heard her scream and I turned around and she was covered in blood and this guy came up behind her and smashed her in the face with a slate from the old church,” the friend said.

“I actually said ‘What did you do to her?’ And went for him and I tried to hold him until someone came.”

Before the culprit escaped the victim’s friend managed to rip his t-shirt from his back, which police hope will help them identify him.

When news of the assault got to Ireland, the victim’s father, John Joe Jordan said the family got a terrible shock.

"If they had got her slightly higher it would have caused a lot more damage," he told the Irish Independent.

"There is no brain damage, which is the main thing. There are a few smashed bones in her face, her nose is broken in three places and the bone above her eye socket is badly severed."

Jordan’s parents arrived on Friday.