[MarmaladeGypsy]

A woman from Northern Ireland was left with a hole in her skull after she was attacked with a cordless drill Saturday in what police are investigating as a possible hate crime.

Brenda McLaughlin, 38, told police she "believed she was targeted" with the drill because she's gay, Sky News reported.

The attack occurred on the street in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, early Saturday morning. McLaughlin was at a nightclub in Strabane along with the 17-year-old male accused of carrying out the attack.

The victim told authorities she "heard the noise of the drill and felt her head being twisted." A detective said there was no evidence a "drill bit" was put in the drill that was recovered by police.

McLaughlin is currently at Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry.

"There does appear to be some sort of hole in the skull, but I cannot say how severe it is," the detective said. "The victim said she believed it was in relation to her homosexuality."

The suspect, who was not immediately named, was accused of "having an offensive weapon, maliciously causing grievous bodily harm and stealing the power drill from the nightclub," Sky News reported.

When officials found McLaughlin, she was lying on the ground in a pool of blood. She was suffering from seizures and going in and out of consciousness.

Daniel McCrossan, a member of the Legislative Assembly for West Tyrone, called the attack "one of the most horrific incidents" during his time as a politician.

"It is a monstrous attack and one that has sent shockwaves across the entirety of the wider Strabane community today," he said. "I actually felt sick, that this could happen.”

The suspect told police he has homosexual relatives and "did not bear any ill will" towards gay people, Ciaran McGuinness, his solicitor, said.

Surveillance video showed the suspect "playing with the drill as if it is a gun."

The suspect is in custody and was slated to appear in court May 18. Authorities are investigating the attack as a hate crime.

https://news.sky.com/story/drill-att...skull-11363198

[commondenom]

nightclub/tool hire shops are great

[kellyhound]

Horrific attack.

[RealityUnfolding]

Am I the only one who thinks this story makes no sense whatsoever?

She's on a corner, but claims he attacked because she's gay. How would he know she's gay? Does Ireland allow children into nightclubs at 2am? And if she's gay, what was she doing as a 38yo hanging with a 17yo male? (Tangent: It always amuses me that people insist GLBT can't be the victims of random violence. That somehow, their GLBT-ness is a shield that only makes those who harm them target them because of being GLBT, much like the Matthew Sheppard case, that wasn't about homophobia, but became a national rallying call for legislation that wasn't relevant to the case.)

You feel a drill on your head and.... just stand there? She was drilled through her skull, that's not a quick attack. She's outside, it's not like there's deafening noises. You hear a drill, you feel like your "head is being twisted" so you.... stand around and wait for him to finish drilling into your brain?

And where does the nightclub come in, if he was seen for 10 minutes walking around outside with the drill, aiming it like a gun and she was attacked on a street corner?

[Pyramid_Head]

I wanna see the hole.