The victims of a brutal attack in Portlaoise have started a GoFundMe appeal to the public for help with dental and medical expenses.

The attack, believed to be homophobically motivated, was orchestrated by four men, who beat the victims using hurley sticks.

Collie McQuillan and his Brazilian-born husband Gui Aquino Teixeira McQuillan were walking home from a family barbecue when the savage violence occurred. 

 

A post shared by Gui A. McQuillan (@guiiaquino) on

Gardaí confirmed that they are investigating the incident.

In the mean time, Collie and his husband have been dealing with their injuries, with Collie starting a Go Fund Me campaign to help with the costs. 

'I was savagely attacked by a group of people which cause extensive damages to my face and jaw and teeth. The attack was mindless and totally unprovoked,' Collie wrote in his Go Fund Me bio.  

'Medical expenses are mounting up and the overall cost of repairing the damage is more then unaffordable to myself. I have an upper and lower broken jaw. My lower jaw line has splintered bone and i have lost 2 teeth and another 2 teeth have been broken in half. Due to the impact there is nerve damage to my teeth and will require root canals to save them.'

'The cost of both medical and dental repairs is about 8000 euro im hoping to raise at least half of this amount. Please if you can help with any donation at all nothing is too small it would me the world to me as this has been a huge knock to my confidence and has cause a lot of emotional stress and physical pain.'

Prominent members of Ireland's LGBTQA+ community, such as James Kavanagh, have shared the pages, which has now smashed it's €8,000 goal and stands at over €10,000. 

'This hurts my heart. Homophobia is still rampant in parts of this country,' James wrote on his Twitter page. 

Feature image: Instagram / Collie Aquino McQuillan