When Irish businessman David Hoban was the victim of a violent attack in Albufeira on April 16, he vowed to work to draw attention to the problem of crime in Albufeira before “someone else is killed”.
Now, just over a month later, his worst fears have been realised with the death of British tourist Ian Haggath.
“The news of another death is tragic. However, I am very pleased that the national and international media are finally paying attention to what is going on in Albufeira and that something looks like being done about the problem by the authorities in Portugal,” said David Hoban.
“I came out to Albufeira again last weekend and was out on May 27 where I met a group of Irish soldiers who were on holiday here. I saw them later on in the evening and to my shock one of them had been beaten up after a gang tried to get his watch from him.
“He was hit with a bottle in the face and then kicked in the head when he was down on the floor. This shows just the level of violence that can be found on the Strip in Albufeira.” He added: “When I saw him, he let me take a picture of his injuries but did not want to be identified or even go to the police as he didn’t want the hassle of reporting the crime.”
While David has said that he is pleased that attention is finally been drawn to the problems in Albufeira, he says that ultimately he is looking for justice and wants to see the people who attacked him punished for their crimes.“I have been speaking with Graham Lackie, the father of Darren Lackie who died in hospital in Faro after an incident in Albufeira on March 31 (see the Algarve Resident edition April 8), and we are both looking for justice. This gang needs to be taken off the streets to stop this from happening anymore and hopefully by drawing these cases to the attention of the media we have opened a can of worms that will lead to solutions,” said David Hoban.
PJ police confirmed that the case of the death of Darren Lackie is still being investigated.
Do you have a view on this story? Please email Editor Inês Lopes at ines.lopes@theresidentgroup.com
