A Polish man who suffered serious burns in a random attack was targeted because he refused to hand over cans of beer to his attackers, it has emerged.
The 35-year-old was walking along the Dock Road area of Limerick city at about 2am last Sunday when a car with three males inside pulled up and one of them asked him for a cigarette.
When he refused, one of the men tried to take the bag of cans from him. When he resisted a flammable fuel was sprayed into his eyes and set alight.
Gardaí have not yet established what was used to cause the flame and are looking into the possibility that it may have been an aerosol.
The victim put his hands to his face to stop the burning.
His attackers fled the scene by car, and the victim managed to make his way back to a house on Fr Russell Road where he was staying with a family for the weekend.
A married father of two, the man had only recently returned to Ireland after a Christmas visit with his family.
He is living and working in Co Tipperary.