ISRAEL – This is the horrifying moment a British backpacker almost bleeds to death after he was attacked and stabbed in the neck in a Thai bar after allegedly telling another tourist to leave his female friend alone.
The Crime Scene
Footage shows Hugo Mooney, from Bristol, lying bloodied on the floor of the Bamboo Bar on the ‘Full Moon Party’ island of Koh Pha Ngan as onlookers desperately try to stop the bleeding.
Mr Mooney said he was drinking beer with his six friends at around 11.30pm on January 28 when he was attacked, allegedly by Israeli national Eliran Alias.
Why he was Attacked
He claims Alias was harassing his female friend as she was walking to the toilet and when he tried to intervene, the Israeli tourist attacked him with a smashed beer bottle and plunged the sharp end into his neck.
This reportedly sent sending blood spurting across the room in front of horrified tourists.
How he Escaped Bleeding Out
By chance, a Canadian doctor who was on holiday happened to be in the bar and he performed life-saving first aid – saving Mr Mooney from almost certain death.
He survived the attack and was rushed to the First Western Hospital more than an hour later. He was later transferred to the Koh Phangan Hospital and has since mostly recovered.
Victim Impact Statement
Mr Mooney said about the moments before the attack: ‘I saw a man acting very strange with girls throughout the night, trying to grab their hands as they walked by and whispering in their ears.
‘My friend mentioned that he had been behaving similarly with her all night, and around 11pm, I saw him try to whisper and grab her,’ Mr Mooney said.
He added that he walked up to the man and told him to ‘leave her alone’. When he turned around to walk away, Alias allegedly ran towards him with the broken bottle, cutting Mr Mooney’s neck.
‘At first, I thought he punched me or hit me in the head until my friend screamed saying I was bleeding from my neck,’ the Briton said.
‘I thought it was a joke or someone was pranking me because there was so much blood.’
Mr Mooney claims that when he arrived at the police station to give his statement the day after the attack, he was placed in a room with his alleged attacker as the police tried to get him to ‘make a deal’ with Alias.
Police later arrested the suspect – another young holidaymaker partying on the notorious island – before he was released on bail a couple of days later.
He is Afraid the Attacker Was Released
He also claims someone close to Alias offered €100,000 for Mr Mooney to drop the assault case.
‘The wounds are starting to heal. I’m just a bit angry and upset now. A little bit scared as well,’ Mr Mooney added, saying he felt let down by the police after Alias was released on bail.
He said he believes the suspect may have ‘paid the police’ for the case to go away, but the investigating officer, Police Lieutenant Patcharapol Wanghin from the Koh Pha Ngan Police Station, said: ‘The investigation into the attack is continuing.
‘It will progress according to the law. We need both sides of the case for it to be fair to everyone. There is no corruption.’
