Taxi driver did this to cage fighter for being an atheist Euan suffered brain bleed after beating
Scot’s life will ‘never be the same’ after being bludgeoned
A FORMER cage fighter was bludgeoned unconscious after a row with a taxi driver. The cabbie battered Euan Fraser, 30, with a crow bar because he said he didn’t believe in God.
A SCOTS backpacker says he was “left for dead” after being brutally attacked by a taxi driver with a crowbar.
Former cage fighter Euan Fraser, 30, said the cabbie beat him unconscious, leaving him with a bleed on the brain.
He said the attack took place after he got out of the car in Melbourne following a harmless discussion about religion.
Euan, from Dundee, said: “As I got out of the taxi, I heard footsteps behind me and heard a loud bang.
“Then I felt this immense pain in my head and I was knocked clean out.
“I was laid into when I was on the floor. He left me for dead.
“I woke with blood in my eyes and my clothes were soaked. I stumbled into the kitchen and it looked like a murder scene.
“I had never seen so much blood. My whole body was in agony. I was so scared.
“I needed 12 stitches on my face and I had a few broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a bleed on the brain. It has changed my life forever.”
The attack happened in June last year after Euan, who stands 6ft 5in tall, flagged down the yellow cab after a night out.
And he admitted he only now feels comfortable speaking about the incident.
He said the pair spoke “at length” about the driver’s Muslim background and he became visibly annoyed when Euan said he was an atheist.
Euan, who was working on a farm at the time, argued that religion had “played a part in causing deaths and wars” throughout history.
Architecture student Euan said: “He didn’t like it when I started expressing my views.
“I argued that science was responsible for evolution rather than religion, which he didn’t like either. I tried to change the conversation but he kept going. I could see he was getting wound up.”
Euan got out of the car and was then smashed over the head and “beaten to a pulp”. After stumbling into his home, Euan collapsed in the kitchen.
He called an Uber, which took him to Sunshine Hospital in the city, where he stayed for about a week and was forced to borrow money from friends to pay a £4000 medical bill.
Tests showed he had been struck with a thick metal pole.
He was treated on a specialist mental health ward after experiencing suicidal thoughts.
Euan has since been reimbursed for his medical bills and awarded £2500 in injury compensation by the Australian government. Police have yet to trace the taxi driver.
Euan travelled home to his family a few weeks after the attack and admitted he’s petrified to set foot in a taxi.
Euan, who lives with girlfriend Sharon Macrae, 34, said he’s been left mentally scarred, suffers from PTSD and often has nightmares.
He said: “Whenever I think about it, I get upset.
“I’ll be stuck with PTSD for life. I keep reliving what happened in my head. I will never be the same again.”
A Melbourne Police spokesman said: “Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding an assault in Aberfeldie on June 12, 2017.
“Investigators have not identified the offender and the investigation remains ongoing.”