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Brutal assault: man 'lucky to be alive'
THE victim of a vicious assault in Scarborough town centre has told the Evening News about the attack that nearly cost him his life.
Karem Cankar, who has a 16-day old daughter, was attacked at the junction of Queen Street and Eastborough as he returned home from work at a town-centre takeaway at around 2am on Monday.
He said: "I was just coming down Queen Street and I stopped to have a look in the window of a shoe shop and this man came and stood next to me.
"He started asking me questions like if I liked the shoes and which ones did I like. Another man was stood about four or five metres away from me.
"I felt uncomfortable and said I was going to go but he stood in front of me and wouldn't let me past. I went round him and walked up towards Boyes but they came up behind me a started hitting me – I hit them back.
"I ran down towards Eastborough but they caught me, knocked me over and started kicking me in the head. I don't remember anything else until I came round in the hospital.
"I don't know why they did it, there was no argument or anything. It just came out of nowhere. I just think they wanted to hit someone."
Mr Canker, 28, who lives in the Old Town and was born in Turkey, was taken to Scarborough Hospital for treatment for his facial injuries and severe blood loss.
"The doctor said that I had lost so much blood I was lucky to be alive, that really scared me because my little daughter could have easily been without a dad," said Mr Canker. "I'm still in a lot of pain – I'm on two sorts of painkillers and antibiotics as well," he added.
He says that it will be a long time before he is able to return to work and that he was now nervous about walking the streets at night.
"The state my face is in, with all the stitches, it will be ages before I'm able to serve anyone in the shop. We've just had a baby so I don't know what we'll do.
"I am frightened that it could happen again," he said. "Complete strangers wanted to hurt me – that's very scary. I've lived in England for seven years and nothing like this has happened before, it has come as a very big shock."
A Scarborough police spokeswoman said: "The incident involved a violent and sustained attack on a lone male who was walking home from work.
"He was approached by two males whilst at the junction who engaged him in conversation, and then assaulted him.
"Inquiries reveal that two male witnesses were in the area at the time, both of whom were walking from the Old Town up Newborough towards Queen Street, and one is seen to be carrying an orange carrier bag.
"These witnesses or anyone who may have seen anything of this attack in the early hours of Monday morning, or anyone who might have seen two male suspects, who are believed to have run off in the direction of Market Street, should contact us."
If you have any information call DC Chaplin, of Scarborough CID, on (0845) 6060247.
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Weather for Scarborough
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -6 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: South
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