TOURIST Stephen Termini has revealed he is seeking compensation from the State for the injuries he suffered.
Termini, 57, also told the Irish Sun that the three youths who battered him in an unprovoked attack had “demons” inside.
The cases of those involved in the vicious assault on him concluded this week.
The 17-year-old who instigated the shocking incident on one of Dublin’s busiest streets bawled crying as he was sent down for 20 months’ detention.
The teenager, who was 16 at the time, kicked Termini four times on the night of July 19, 2023.
His two accomplices, who were handed down 27 and 32 months custodial sentences, then took over in the attack.
Termini, from Buffalo in New York, had to undergo emergency surgery to save his eyesight before spending two weeks in intensive care but still lives with life-altering injuries, permanently using a walking stick.
Although he has repeatedly said he forgives his three attackers, he reckons it will come back to bite them some day.
Termini told the Irish Sun: “It’ll affect them in some way, somehow, sometime in their life.
“The same type of thing is gonna happen to them and they’re gonna get assaulted and they’re gonna think, ‘Oh s***, this must have been the way that guy felt that we did it to him.’
“I think that life will balance itself out without any helping hand from me. You know, karma is a b***h.”
He added: “They left me there bleeding on the side of the road and all scattered and left me dead.
‘DEMONS INSIDE’
“After they kicked me in the head over and over and over. It seems like they had demons inside trying to kill me.
“I wish the kids would get into some kind of counselling program to talk about why they felt so much hate towards me. I didn’t do nothing to nobody.”
Termini may be entitled to money from the State’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme and is meeting a solicitor over the matter.
He has been left with a US medical bill of €70,000 after returning home in 2023 as he needed metal rods inserted in his back following a seizure due to a further bleed on the brain.
LOSS OF EARNINGS
He also lost up to €30,000 in employment earnings as he could not work as a result.
But he managed to scrape together €10,000 for his trip to Ireland, where he arrived earlier this month.
He had hoped to get residency to live out his days in Newport in Co Mayo, where his great-grandmother Anne Donnelly was from before she emigrated to the US.
But the dream may be short lived as it is costing him over €750 a week in expenses for a B&B, food and travel.
‘CHANCE TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN’
But his fate now depends on how the meeting goes.
He told us: “They say my visa lasts three months here. I’m trying to only eat twice a day, small and cheap things in Tesco just to make the €10,000 stretch for me.
“The solicitor is mostly on the case for the victim’s scheme into financial assistance, filing that case.
“So if it looks promising, if there is a chance to make this happen, I would stay here and continue on my search to find a place to live. Or just order a tent off of Amazon.
“Then the next thing would be to get onto a permanent visa and work.”
