British tourist 'stabbed in the neck with broken beer bottle' in horror attack on Thai island

A British backpacker was allegedly stabbed in the neck with a beer bottle while defending a female friend being harassed in a bar in Thailand.

Hugo Mooney, from Bristol, was drinking beer with his pals when the row erupted at the Bamboo Bar on the 'Full Moon Party' island of Koh Pha Ngan on January 28.

Israeli national Eliran Alias allegedly began harassing Hugo's friend Charlene Driscoll while she was walking to the toilet.

The British tourist allegedly tried to intervene, causing Eliran to fly into a rampage. The attacker allegedly smashed a beer bottle and plunged the sharp end into Hugo's neck - sending blood spurting across the room in front of horrified tourists.

Harrowing footage shows Hugo lying bloodied on the bar floor as his friends and onlookers attempted to stem the bleeding from his neck.

By chance, a Canadian doctor who was on holiday happened to be in the bar and he performed life-saving first aid - saving Hugo from almost certain death.

Hugo survived the attack and was rushed to the First Western Hospital before being transferred to the Koh Phangan Hospital.

Police later arrested the suspect - another young holidaymaker partying on the notorious island - before he was released on bail a couple of days later.

The investigating officer, Police Lieutenant Patcharapol Wanghin from the Koh Pha Ngan Police Station, said: 'The investigation into the attack is continuing. It will progress according to the law. We need both sides of the case for it to be fair to everyone. There is no corruption.'

Speaking by phone this week, Hugo said: 'The attack happened at around 11.30 PM. I was at the bar with six friends.

'I saw a man acting very strange with girls throughout the night, trying to grab their hands as they walked by and whispering in their ears.

'My friend mentioned that he had been behaving similarly with her all night, and around 11 PM, I saw him try to whisper and grab her.

'I stood in front of him and said, 'Go away. Leave her alone. No one likes you being weird.' I turned around with my friends and walked to a dancefloor.

'The next thing I know, he ran towards me with a broken glass, cut my neck, and fled.

'At first, I thought he punched me or hit me in the head until my friend screamed saying I was bleeding from my neck.

'I thought it was a joke or someone was pranking me because there was so much blood.

'There was a doctor from Canada at the party, and he came straight away, pressing my neck to save me. If he was not there, I would be dead because the bar was far from the hospital.

'When I was stabbed, it took around one and a half hours before I was at the hospital.

'The police did not arrive until the morning and told me to write a statement, which they obtained around 12 PM.

'At 2 PM, two police officers arrived and they took me to the police station without any consent from the doctor.

'They placed me in the police room with the man who tried to kill me, without any warning.

'They tried to get me to speak with him, but I was in shock and said, 'No, get him away from me'.

'It was only 14 hours after he tried to kill me. I did not understand their intentions but I thought they wanted me to make a deal with him.

'Then, they instructed me to tell the story again and made me sign a lot of papers, written in Thai, which I could not understand.

'They tried to give me confidence, saying that this man could be in jail for at least two years and be banned from Thailand, while I could get compensation.

'However, I kept saying that I don't care about money, I just wanted him in jai. When I left the police station to go to the hospital, one of his friends attempted to speak with me.

'He told my friend at the police station that he would offer me 100,000 Euros if I dropped the case, but I said no I wanted the man in jail.

'Now, I understand that the man has a lot of money and now he is free, I guess he must have paid the police.'

'The wounds are starting to heal. I'm just a bit angry and upset now. A little bit scared as well.

'The police have never called me or contacted me since I was released from the hospital.

'Then when it was in the local news, they tried to call me last night to get me to come to the police station. And I said no. They asked me where I lived, but I did not want to tell them.

'About 30 minutes later, they showed up to where I work and asked the staff where I live. So I feel a little bit harassed by the police now.

'I'm the victim. But I don't feel like that anymore. I don't know who to trust or speak to.'

Hugo believes that the police were attempting to negotiate with him for the release of the suspect. He believes the suspect has 'paid the police' for the case to be kicked into the long grass.

Describing the police's actions upon arriving at his workplace, Mooney added: 'They spoke to my staff and inquired about my whereabouts, asking how I was and if they could speak to me.

'However, my staff informed them that I was too sick and too scared to speak with them.

'First, they said I needed to come to take a photo, so I asked what kind of photo. Then they asked me to come in to sign something. They changed their story straightaway.

'I asked, 'What do I need to sign? You tell me nothing,' but they insisted, saying, 'You need to come, we need to help you'.'

Hugo's Thai friend Chanjira Witthayabumrung, a witness to the alleged attack, said he is angry at the police that the suspect was released.

He said: 'The man almost killed someone else. He was arrested for interrogation but he was released. But our friend almost died. Where is the justice in that?

'It's not fair to my friend that his attacker can live a normal life because he paid the police.'