THE widow of a Catholic man beaten to death by a sectarian mob in Northern Ireland has appealed for there to be no retaliation for his murder.
Kevin McDaid's wife, Evelyn, yesterday appeared before the media, displaying facial and head injuries inflicted by the attackers as she tried to save him.
Twelve men were being questioned by police in connection with the killing of Mr McDaid, 49,
in Coleraine, County Londonderry, on Sunday evening.
Another man remains in hospital with serious injuries suffered in the attack.
Mr McDaid, a cross-community youth worker, was targeted by a gang of up to 40 men who entered a mainly Catholic housing estate following matches involving Rangers and Celtic.
Mrs McDaid, a Protestant, said: "He wouldn't want retaliation for it. He wouldn't want my sons to get hurt. He was trying to keep the peace, he didn't want all this, the nonsense that's been going on here for years." She claimed that the mob also beat up a pregnant woman.
Mr McDaid, a former plasterer, had three sons and a foster son. His widow said the family's life had been shattered. "My life's over," she said. "He was my soulmate and now that's finished.
"I have to try to go on for the wee foster boy and my other three sons. But I've lost a very big part of me and I can never replace that."
Mrs McDaid said the attackers claimed they were from the loyalist paramilitary group the UDA as they beat her and her husband.
"UDA , they called themselves the UDA. I went across to help him and they beat me while they beat him.
"And then my neighbour had to step in to save me and she was pregnant and they beat her too and she shouted 'I'm pregnant' and they didn't care."
Celtic scarves have been tied on railings, and flowers left close to the scene of the savage attack.
Damien Fleming, 46, remains in hospital with serious injuries after being assaulted in nearby Pates Lane during the disturbances.
• A masked man threatened to shoot a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly last night as she canvassed in a staunchly republican area, her party claimed.
The armed man pointed an airgun at the SDLP's Dolores Kelly and told her she had five minutes to leave the Kilwilkie estate in Lurgan, Co Armagh.
The Upper Bann representative was canvassing on the doorsteps ahead of next month's European elections. A police spokeswoman said that officers were investigating the incident.
