UPDATE: Fundraiser launched for Croatian man left with brain bleed after friend killed in Dublin assault

A GoFundMe page has reached over €8,000 to help a Croatian man who was left with a fractured skull and bleeding brain after a brutal assault where his friend was killed in Dublin.

David Družinec (28) suffered terrible injuries in an attack in Clondalkin, during which his best friend Josip Štrok died. Connor Rafferty (19) and Anthony Delappe (18), both from Clondalkin, were charged at Ballyfermot Garda station with the murder of Mr Štrok and assault causing harm David Družinec  on March 30th.

The pair were assaulted by a gang of youths after stepping off a bus on 30th March. Josip Štrok (31), who lived in central Dublin, suffered severe head injuries, and was taken to Tallaght hospital, where he died from his injuries four days later on April 3.

Mr Druzinec, speaking in April, said that before the two were assaulted, the attackers yelled that they should “speak English”.

“It started because they started telling us that you disrespect (this) country, that you need to speak English,” he said.

He said the attackers knocked him unconscious by hitting him from behind with a baseball bat. “After a few minutes, I managed to stand up and wake up. I saw what he doing to Josip. I wanted to go to help to him and got hit four more times and was done.

“The last I remember from that moment was seeing the ambulance lights coming. That's it,” he added.

In the description of the GoFundMe set up for David, his injuries are described in details.

It says: "apart from losing his best childhood friend, David Družinec also suffered severe physical injuries, 7 skull fractures, bruising of the eyes, 2 different fractures of the nose and a hematoma inside the brain, which, if it does not heal, may cause a severe problem to further functioning of the brain.

"The attack hurt his teeth too, some were literally dislocated. We believe that many people know that after this incident, David was kicked out of the rented apartment on the street, and in such a serious condition, with blood all over his face, he wandered the streets of Dublin on Easter day, searching for a hostel. Along with serious physical injuries, David also suffered severe mental trauma.

"Even though the investigation is underway, the suspects have been arrested, David has to settle all of the costs of his medical treatment by himself. Such costs are clearly very high, and David is neither physically and not mentally capable of working.

The fundraiser can be found here.