Gardai appeal for witnesses after death of student

Relatives of the Chinese man who died in Dublin following an assault with an iron bar are expected to arrive in Ireland over …

Relatives of the Chinese man who died in Dublin following an assault with an iron bar are expected to arrive in Ireland over the weekend.

The victim was named as Mr Zhao Liu Tao (29) from Shenyang city in the Liaoning province of north-east China. He died on Thursday from head injuries suffered in the assault in the Beaumont area of Dublin on Monday.

Mr Zhao's younger brother and a cousin yesterday received visas from the Irish embassy in Beijing but were unable to get on a flight to Dublin last night.

Detectives have appealed for witnesses to what is believed to be the first racially motivated fatal assault in the State.

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A 14-year-old youth and an 18-year-old Irishman werearrested but released without charge. A file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. A 16-year-old Irish youth is understood to have presented himself at Coolock Garda station the day after the assault, where he made a statement about the incident.

Mr Zhao's elderly parents live in Shenyang and the family was informed of his death by friends living in Dublin and through the Chinese embassy.

Members of the Chinese community have expressed their shock and anger at the attack which happened on Monday evening at the junction of Beaumont Road and Beaumont Grove, not far from Beaumont hospital on the north side of the city.

Mr Zhao, a student living in Dublin for just over a year, and two friends were confronted by a number of Irish youths on the busy junction and there were racial taunts.

It is understood that one of the Irish youths used a metal bar from a barrier surrounding roadworks with which Mr Zhao was hit repeatedly on the head.

He was left unconscious on the road and was rushed to Beaumont hospital where he was put on a life-support machine. Another of the Chinese men with him was also injured but not seriously.

There was widespread condemnation of the attack and the Government was accused of failing to take adequate steps to combat racist attitudes. A spokesman for the Department of Justice said that a review of the incitement to hatred legislation is "actively under way".

Two EU framework documents on racism, currently under negotiation, would have an impact on domestic legislation. He added that "all right-thinking people would be outraged at this appalling attack".