A NIGERIAN security guard is recuperating following a brutal attack in Dublin that caused him serious head injuries.
Azeez Kareem, 43, was set upon at around 5.30am on Sunday 21 August at the entrance of Belcamp College in Balgriffin, just off the N32.
The grounds of the former secondary school, now disused for a number of years, have been the target of numerous acts of vandalism, arsons and robberies in recent months.
It is understood that a number of men were involved in the assault on the Nigerian, who suffered serious head injuries after a block was thrown through the window of his car.
A Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance took Kareem to Beaumont Hospital, where he had four-hour surgery on Sunday evening.
Speaking to Metro Éireann from the hospital last Friday, wife Lara Kareem said it was “just God” who ensured that her husband lived.
Describing his head injuries as “very severe”, she said the attackers hadn’t considered how she and the couple’s four children would have coped if he had died.
According to the Dundalk-based mum, it was the third occasion on which her husband has been attacked at the college, with prior cases also reported to gardaí.
She said, however, that she did not believe it was racially motivated and that “it could have happened to anybody”, intimating that “these boys attack people working there like that”.
Asked if she had a message for the perpetrators, she said: “All I care about is that they shouldn’t go scot-free… if this thing doesn’t stop it will end up taking the person’s life.”
Lara Kareem said her husband is currently “doing fine” but doctors have not yet cleared him to go home. He turned 43 on Friday while in hospital.
A Garda spokesperson told Metro Éireann that “the incident remains under investigation and we are still seeking witnesses to come forward. There is no reason to believe that the incident was racially motivated.”
Witnesses or anyone with information are asked to contact gardaí in Coolock at 01 666 4200, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.
