A sixteen-month-old baby was thrown from a car and his father was seriously injured when he tried to prevent a robbery at a supermarket in Lisburn this morning.
The PSNI said they were following a positive line of inquiry in the hunt for a gang who bit part of the victim's ear off and beat him with wooden bats at a supermarket in the Co Antrim town.
The man was in his car when when he saw three youths attempting to steal a vehicle but was set upon and viciously beaten when he tried to intervene at around 8.00 a.m. today.
The attackers drove off in the victim's Ford Focus where his baby son was asleep and moments later the child was thrown from the car, although he was unhurt.
The child was reunited with his mother after the incident, while his father was taken to hospital where he is being treated for his injuries.
His car was found burnt out a short time later in Poleglass, west Belfast.