MICK GORING recently contacted The Resident, relaying the unprovoked attack he suffered at the hands of two security guards in Lagos, reports Louise Pimm.
With the holiday season in full swing, it is common to see parties going on at beaches all over the Algarve. Mick, 49, and his friend Matt heard about a beach party in Lagos and decided to go down and have a look. Neither had enough money for the entrance fee and so decided to head for a neighbouring beach, via the cliffs, to watch the party from there.
As they neared the beach, other people obviously had the same idea but were being told to go back up the public footpath by two security guards. Mick and Matt turned back and walked up the path. “We stopped halfway up to get a good view of the beach. We weren’t doing anything, just standing there, when the security guards came up. Neither of us can speak Portuguese and we told the guards that, but we got the idea that they wanted us to move on,” Mick said. As he was trying to say they were allowed to stand on the path if they wanted, the second of the two guards tapped Mick on the shoulder and asked him if he was English. “As I turned round, the guard hit me on the head with his torch. I fell to the ground but he just kept hitting and kicking me.”
Mick managed to scramble away, Matt caught up with him and both headed to the GNR station, where they were asked if they had the name of the security guard. “We were told to go back and find out his name! We went back, found a police officer and pointed out the two men. We then had to go back to the station, but were told if we wanted to make a statement to come back the next day.”
After returning to the station many times, the sergeant finally saw them, wrote down a few details of the night and told Mick the address of the security guard in Lisbon! “Apparently, that was all they could do,” Mick told us.
Mick had to receive treatment for his injuries at Portimão’s Barlavento Hospital. “Luckily I was wearing a hat, or I could have come off a lot worse,” he said as he showed his scars. From being hit on the head with the security guard’s torch, Mick now has an inch-and-a-half scar on his head and another, slightly smaller, on his forehead.
• If anyone has had similar experiences, either with security firms flexing a bit too much muscle or the GNR’s protocol in these matters, send your story to The Resident at [email protected] or fax 282 342 939.
