Dion Murphy beaten in night attack

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33693, 16 November 1974, Page 18

Dion Murphy beaten in night attack

The police have questioned several people in connection with an attack on Dion Murphy, the former Christchurch professional boxer, yesterday.

Mr Murphy was kicked, punched and hit with beer bottles and fence batons after he complained to two men about the noise their motor-cycle was making in Jutland Street, New Brighton, about 1.30 a.m. He was taken to Burwood Hospital suffering from cuts and bruises over most of his body. Two- stitches ' were

placed in a cut in his forehead, and one in a wound by his left eye. His feet, badly injured while he was escaping bare foot, were bandaged in an operation in the hospital about 7 a.m. He is now in a comfortable condition.

Mr Murphy said he was awakened by the noise of the motor-cycle and went to investigate. While asking the men to stop the noise, one youth grabbed his hair and another tried to punch him. A third man with a bottle I of beer then ran across the road and swung it at him. After a violent struggle, Mr Murphy said, he ran away through a fence, where the

fight continued with broken fench batons The violence ended when Mr Murphy freed himself and called out to a policeman near the comer of Jutland and Effingham Streets.

The New Brighton police said yesterday afternoon that two men were helping them with their inquiries.

Another man underwent surgery in Burwood Hospital yesterday after he was involved in a fight on Thursday evening. He is Michael Tasker, who suffered serious injuries to his nose and face in a fight in a hotel at Lyttelton about 10.30 p.m. The Lyttelton police are investigating the incident.