Machete gang hacks off man's fingers and nose

A security worker is recovering after a machete attack outside his home in Kenya, his mother said yesterday. Mike Minihane, 45, lost his fingers and nose in the assault by a gang of five men in the Nairobi suburb of Karen. Mr Minihane was returning home with his wife Christine and their five-year-old son on June 13 when he was attacked.

He was taken to hospital in Nairobi and had eight hours of surgery. He is expected to have further reconstruction work, his mother said. Helen Minihane from Dollar, Clackmannanshire, said: "They hacked off his fingers but they have been reattached. He suffered a fractured skull and I believe he lost his nose, part of his jaw and his teeth. He may have to have a metal pin put behind one of his eyes. But he can walk and talk and he's quite lucid."

Mr Minihane, who has dual British-Irish nationality, has worked in Kenya for around 10 years. He was on a month's leave when he was attacked, in what is thought to have been an attempted carjacking. Mrs Minihane was on holiday in Canada when her other son, who lives in Dublin, called her to tell her what had happened.

She said: "They had been out to dinner somewhere and his wife and his little boy were in the car. They drove round a lane to get to the steel security door and Mike had got out to open it. There were five men and they had a machete, an axe and a machine gun. But at least he survived."