Dungiven Stabbing 'Not Premeditated'

The stabbing of a Polish man in a brawl in Co Londonderry last weekend was not pre-planned.

Katrina Kordula from the Polish Welfare Association denied that the incident was premeditated or tribal.

She said that Sinn Fein Councillor Anne Brolly - who alleged that Latvian and Romanian nationals from Maghera had gatecrashed a party armed with knives - had got it wrong.

The victim - who has only been in Northern Ireland for a short time - was at a multi-cultural event organised by the Glenshane Community Development Group when the trouble broke out at 2am on Sunday morning.

The injured man, who is in his mid-20s, was trying to break up a fight involving up to 30 people when he was attacked.

He is in a stable condition in Altnagelvin Hospital following the incident outside John T's pub in Dungiven.

Ironically, the original event was aimed at giving an 'Ulster welcome' to the many foreign nationals now living and working in the Province, before turning sour.

Speaking at the time, Dungiven Councillor, Anne Brolly said the stabbing - which happened during a fight - involved other foreign nationals.

"During this party we had a group of people from outside the borough, Latvians I believe and Romanians, who came in, and in a premeditated attack - it had to premeditated because they came with knives - pulled knives on the people in the party.

"In all my time in Dungiven I never knew anybody to pull a knife on somebody else. There have been fights and rows of all kinds, but this is something that is very disturbing and worrying to the people of the town," she said.

Deputy Mayor of Limavady Borough Council, Brenda Chivers said she was shocked and disappointed by the incident which she said heaped further worry on the people of the area in the weeks running up to Christmas.

"It's hard to believe that something like this has happened," she said.

There have been growing numbers of incidents involving rival immigrants across Northern Ireland, including a case in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, where foreign nationals charged with the murder of another have themselves been targeted by friends of the man they allegedly killed.

Friends of a deceased Dungannon foreign national are said to be plotting to kill the two Lithuanians accused of beating the victim to death.

The news was revealed last month during a failed bail application at Belfast High Court.

See: Stabbing Follows Community Event

(BMcC/KMcA)