LAST UPDATE | 18 Mar

A MAN IN his 50s is in a serious condition in hospital in Limerick after he was beaten with a traffic cone in the city overnight, with a second man also stabbed in the incident.

William ‘Liam’ Higgins, 55, originally from Rhebogue in Limerick, suffered serious head injuries in an assault at O’Dwyer’s Bridge, Athlunkard Street, on St Patrick’s Day. 

He was rushed by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick, where he is in a serious condition. Liam suffered serious head injuries in the assault.

Sources have said the scene was fraught and that a suspect also required checking over by paramedics.

Gardaí believe Liam had been involved in an altercation with another man and that he was knocked to the ground and beaten about his head with a heavy implement, believed to be the base of a traffic cone.

Liam was rushed by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick, where his condition was described as critical.

Another man in his 20s sustained “minor stab wounds” at the same scene, reliable sources said.

A statement said that gardaí were called along with paramedics to the incident at 9.40pm. A man in his 20s was arrested in connection with the investigation and is currently detained at a garda station in Limerick.

His wife said Liam was beaten and stabbed and left “brain dead” on the eight anniversary of his son’s killing.

William’s 23-year-old son Jamie Higgins was stabbed to death during a row with another man at the Shannon Knights nightclub, Shannon, Co Clare, on St Patrick’s Day 2018.

In April 2023, Jamie’s killer, Nathan O’Neill, 27, of Dooradoyle, Limerick, was jailed for nine years after he was acquitted of murder, a charge he denied, but convicted of manslaughter, which he had pleaded guilty to.

Liam’s wife Sharon Higgins said she was shocked when she heard the news of her husband’s injuries.

“As far as I am concerned my husband [is dead]. He is brain dead, it is the same thing,” she said.

“He was heartbroken over his [Jamie’s] death, I am horrified about it, I feel there is nothing left of me to be honest. I don’t know anymore, I am just a shell now, there is nothing left of me, this is too much to handle.”

She said her children are devastated and “there is no hope or justice in this world” for them.

“I am not able to bury another [family member]. It’s the same thing again, I have cried so much,” she said.

“I heard the news last night from the hospital that he [Liam] is brain dead, and for us to come down and say our last goodbyes.”

Sharon said it was “heartbreaking” for her and her family that her husband had suffered such a serious assault on the anniversary of their son’s killing.

“My son’s anniversary was only yesterday, and now his father…it’s too much to handle and take on,” she said.

“He always had a great connection with his children, and he was very down [about Jamie's death].”

Speaking of the assault on her husband, Sharon said: “He was beaten to a pulp and he was stabbed.”

The mother of three said she and her husband had been recently living at separate addresses but remained on good terms. Liam was residing at a flat at Grove Island, Corbally, located only a few hundred yards away from where he was found seriously injured.

Sharon said doctors told her family that her husband has no hope of recovery and sled them to say their last goodbyes to him.

“I have to go through all of this again now, like I buried my son, I have to bury my husband the same way.”

Sharon said she believed her husband had went to meet friends at a local pub “and he never made it home”.

“He was a gentleman, he worked his whole life, he loved his children, no one had a bad word to say about him,” she said.

“He was a quiet, calm, loving and very caring father to his children, he loved them with all his heart,” she added.

Although they found themselves living separately in recent times, Sharon said: “He was the best husband. We’re all very broken up over it, he never did nothing to no one, he just suffered in silence about the death of his son, Jamie.

“We are all just broken and now we are left with nothing at all. I’m crying so much, and I have to go through all this again.”

A Garda Scenes of Crime unit conducted searches of drains, fields and a nearby River close to where Liam was found St Patrick’s night.

Separately, gardaí are also appealing for witnesses to an alleged serious assault in the city in the early hours of this morning.

In that incident, which occurred on St Alphonsus Street shortly after 3am, a man in his 20s was brought to Cork University Hospital with serious head injuries, where he remains in a serious condition.

Gardaí said the scene has been preserved for a technical examination and investigations are ongoing.

With reporting from Niall O’Connor.