A knife attack on a Chinese man in his south Belfast home by three masked men was racist, a community leader suggested tonight.
The victim was slashed in the face, neck, arms and legs after the men armed with knives entered his home in Kilburn Street and demanded money.
The victim, who speaks little English, was repeatedly attacked with a knife as he was dragged from room to room. He staggered to a restaurant in the neighbouring Botanic Avenue after the gang left, where an ambulance was called.
Mr Dean Lee of the city's Chinese Welfare Association said: "It wasn't necessarily purely a robbery because the level of attack involved in the incident would suggest a hate motivation behind the crime also.
Police Service of Northern Ireland Insp Darrin Jones, said police were treating the crime as a "vicious aggravated burglary" and that part of their investigation would focus on whether it was racially motivated.
"These men were certainly looking for money but it was a very vicious incident," he said. Insp Jones said the victim was extremely traumatised.
"He had just arrived in the country and could not understand what these men were asking for," he said.
PA