Ugandan left seriously hurt after racist attack

An African man is in a critical condition after a racist attack in Bristol.

Christopher Kasozi, who is originally from Uganda, was celebrating his 23rd birthday in the city centre when he was punched by a white man and suffered severe brain injuries.

The attacker, who was with three other men, hurled racist abuse at the hospital care worker as he walked through the Harbourside area with a friend at about 3.30am on Sunday, police said.

When Mr Kasozi asked him to stop the taunts, he was punched, causing his head to slam into the pavement. The impact caused massive internal damage and he was taken to Bristol's Frenchay hospital for emergency surgery in its specialist brain unit.

Mr Kasozi's sister, Tabitha, said if his attacker had "given him a chance he would have talked and walked away with them as friends." She said the attack happened at the end of a family night out to celebrate his birthday. "We were with him until about 2am and then we separated. A friend was with my brother in the city centre when it happened," she said.

"Four men followed him. His friend was a few steps away. One of these men tapped Chris on the shoulder and made a racist comment. Someone else said 'you can't say that' and then Chris was hit in the face."

Avon and Somerset Police appealed for clubbers and drinkers in the area at the time to come forward.The attacker was described as a white man, in his late twenties to early thirties, around 5ft 8in tall with short, shaven hair and a tanned complexion, wearing a canary yellow T-shirt.