THE FAMILY OF Dublin grandfather Paddy Hansard, who was brutally attacked outside his home last month, are to make a TV appeal for information. 

The 73-year-old’s family will appear on RTÉ’s Crimecall tonight and said of their father that they “don’t think they will ever get that man back”. 

Hansard had been having a drink with his partner June in the Clonliffe House before heading home in the early hours of 17 August. A man with a weapon and wearing a mask was waiting for him and he was seriously assaulted. 

His partner June says that she thought he was dead and that “he’s a very strong man to survive this”. 

What I saw that night when I was walking in frightened the life out of me. I thought he was was dead.

Hansard remains in hospital with significant brain damage that doctors have said is life-changing. 

He is a highly respected member of the Ballybough community and a candlelit vigil was held in Dublin’s north inner city a week after the attack for people to pray and speak about Paddy.

In an appeal for information on what happened, Paddy Hansard’s brother Paul tells Crimecall:

Paddy should have been safe going to the pub, coming back home…It’s shattered the peace of our family. Our family are devastated.

“If anyone has any information, big or small, you need to get that information to the guards,” he adds.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Mountjoy Garda Station or the Garda Confidential line on 1800 666 111.