An asylum seeker who was left critically injured after being attacked by a mob can no longer recognise his brother following the ordeal.
Kurdish Iranian Reker Ahmed, 17, was chased and attacked while at a bus stop with two others in Croydon, south London, on Friday night.
He was left with a fractured spine, fractured eye socket and bleed to the brain, and is now recovering after being placed in an induced coma.
Met Police believe more than 30 people could have been involved in the alleged hate crime attack which has left members of Croydon’s Kurdish community worried and shocked.
His brother Hadi Ahmed, 23, said he visited his brother, who is being treated at London's King's College Hospital on Tuesday, and only found out on Monday he was the victim of the assault after seeing his picture in the news.
He said that his brother did not recognise him when he visited him in hospital.
"When I saw him the first time he was like 'are you my brother?' and I said 'what do you mean?... yeah I'm your brother what are you talking about?'," Hadi Ahmed said of the hospital visit.
"It was like that, just shocked. I was just hugging him saying 'you're my brother'.
"I didn't recognise him as well when the first time I see him... he didn't have any affection. He didn't want to hug me."
He added: "It was horrible. I started crying.
"It's really bad, I feel really gutted and disappointed about the situation that happened."
Reker was set upon at a bus stop in Shrublands Avenue with two others, in what police have described as a “brutal attack”.
He was left in intensive care with a fractured skull and a blood clot on his brain following the assault.
So far officers have arrested 16 people in connection with the incident, on suspicion of offences including attempted murder and violent disorder.
Detectives are also trying to trace the driver and the occupants of a white hatchback with a black roof that stopped at the scene.
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