A partially clothed man suspected of having been badly beaten with the likes of an iron bar has been found on a roadside in Co Armagh, police said.
Emergency services were alerted after a passerby came across the injured man, believed to be in his early 40s, in the Cortynan Road area of the village of Tynan at about 9.30am on Sunday.
The man was lying at the side of the road with what are thought to be “significant injuries”, according to the PSNI. Police said he had suffered “significant bruising” which was “consistent with having been beaten with an implement such as an iron bar”.
“He had also had a number of items of clothing removed,” a PSNI spokesman said.
Police are trying to establish the circumstances and have appealed for witnesses to come forward.
Attack
Separately, a sectarian attack on a 12-year-old boy in the Ardoyne road area of north Belfast on Saturday night has been condemned.
PSNI Insp Nick Browne said the victim was approached by a group of five young people believed to be aged between 13 and 14 years as he walked past a fast food outlet at about 7.30pm.
“One of them then approached him and punched him above the eye,” he said.
“This was a frightening experience for the victim and it is being treated as a sectarian hate crime.
Police have asked for anyone who was in the area and who witnessed the attack to come forward and to call the non-emergency number, 101.
SDLP North Belfast MLA Nichola Mallon condemned the attack: "It is sickening that a child was attacked by a group of young people while out walking on Saturday evening. This sectarian hate crime should be met with universal condemnation. The fact that attacks like this continue to happen in 2021 should be a wake-up call to us all," she said. – additional reporting, PA