Guido Nasi, the Italian man who was left paralysed as a teenager following an unprovoked assault in Dublin, has died at the age of 43.
Mr Nasi was 17 and studying English in Ireland when he was struck on the head with a beer bottle during an unprovoked attack in Fairview Park, suffering devastating brain injuries, reports RTE.
Italian writer Massimo Tallone, who collaborated with him on his autobiography *Il Lottatore* (The Fighter), confirmed his death.
Mr Nasi, who lived in Turin, returned to Ireland in 2019 with his mother Simonetta and met then president Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin, reports RTE.
They attended an event marking the 25th anniversary of the Irish Tourist Assistance Service (ITAC). The family had been supported by ITAC and, during the ceremony highlighting the organisation’s work, Mr Higgins departed from his prepared remarks to give a spontaneous tribute to the family.
“I say to Guido, whose body was broken, and Simonetta, whose heart must be broken, there are many people in Ireland who have been humbled by the sheer force of the forgiveness and love they have indicated,” he said, reports RTE.
He thanked Mr Nasi for maintaining a positive attitude towards Ireland “despite the grave harm that was done 20 years ago”.
Mr Nasi, who was unable to walk or speak following the attack, later secured a publishing deal for his memoirs, which he wrote using adaptive technology, reports RTE.
During his meeting with the president, he sought advice on publishing his work.
The then president, himself an accomplished poet, suggested a leading Italy-based translator, reports RTE.
In November 2001, a 31-year-old man was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for carrying out the assault.
James Osbourne, of Forth Road in East Wall, Dublin, struck Mr Nasi over the head with a beer bottle near Fairview Park, leaving him almost completely paralysed from the neck down, reports RTE.
The Italian student spent a month in a coma in Dublin before being transferred back to Turin.
In November 2001, Mr Nasi spent an entire night typing a victim impact statement using a specialised computer attached to his wheelchair, relying on limited movement in a single finger, reports RTE.
Addressing the court, he said that in July 1999 he had been enjoying “the most beautiful holiday of his life” when he was “plunged into a nightmare”.
Before passing sentence, Judge Elizabeth Dunne said she felt nothing but admiration for the way Mr Nasi had coped with what had happened to him, reports RTE.
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