A SCOTSMAN who was the victim of a mistaken identity punishment beating in Derry yesterday morning has described, his masked attackers as cowards.
Mr John McGinley (25), from the Gorbals area of Glasgow, was in Derry visiting his sister, Mrs Anne Marie Keogh, in Ennis Place in the Ballymagroarty area of the city when four masked men, three armed with baseball bats and one with a handgun, smashed their way into her home.
The gang called out the name of Mrs Keogh's husband, Tommy, who was hiding in the living room. Unable to find their intended victim, the gang then attacked Mr McGinley. They also put a gun to Mrs Keogh's head and told her she had 48 hours to leave Derry.
The intruders then ransacked the house and, as the family fled, the house was destroyed in an arson attack. It was the second time in less than a year that armed and masked men had broken into the house looking for Mr Keogh.
Standing with his wife, Teresa, and six month old son, John jnr, Mr McGinley described his ordeal as a living nightmare.
"Masked men smashed in the door of the house", he said. "They dragged me out of the living room into the kitchen and started to hit me about the legs with baseball bats and a pickaxe handle. The one with the gun told them to stop as I was the wrong person. They then dragged me out of the kitchen and started to smash up the house.
"My wife, sister and children in the house were all screaming in terror. Initially I could not move my legs and I had to be helped out of the house. Friends took me to hospital. I can only walk with the aid of walking sticks. My left leg is badly bruised and my right kneecap is badly damaged. They were cowards.
Mrs Keogh, whose husband Tommy is from Letterkenny, said the attack sickened her. "One of them put a gun to my head and said we had to leave within 48 hours. They said we were drug dealers, but we are not.
Mr Tommy Keogh said he hid behind a sofa when he heard the gang bursting into his home. "They are scum," he said. "They came looking for me but they couldn't find me so they attacked my brother in law."
The local parish administrator, Father Patrick O'Kane, said it was the second so called punishment beating in the estate in two days. "I condemn what happened in this case. This is just the law of the jungle and it has no place in a civilised society. Many people in the community feel the same as I do. However, there are some people who say there must be a reason for such attacks.
"I would say to those people that this is not right. I have just come back from hospital, where I visited two young men who have broken limbs from a similar beating on Tuesday. No one has the right to act as judge, juror and executioner."