Mark Beltran is a street performer from the Philippines. In September 2016, he was attacked by an 18-year-old Irish man while trying to recover a stolen amp. Mark was blinded in one eye, eventually losing the eye as a result of the attack. He came on Liveline this afternoon to share his story.
On the 9th of September 2016, Mark was wrapping up a performance when he noticed that his amp was missing. After reporting the theft to the Guards, Mark sat down to dinner. He was interrupted by a call from some friends who said they had found his amp.
“They told me to rush over there. So, I did. And in the upper docks, I found my amp and my two other friends. And they told me that they were just part of a little bit of a squabble.”
This “squabble” began when Mark’s friends read his name on the amp that some teenagers were using for a performance. They attempted to take the amp back and were attacked by the teenagers, with passersby “defending” Mark’s friends from the worst of it. Mark met his friends and they began to make their way back to their accommodation. They were about “2 minutes away” when they were set upon by the teenagers.
“There were 6 teenagers that attacked me. One of them sucker-punched me with a bottle to the face and that ended up disfiguring my face and taking out my eye.”
Mark described the depression that plagued him following the attack.
“During the attack and just right after, it was really terrifying. I felt a kind of fear that…was really hard to live with. I remember thinking that I was better off to just die. Rather than live as less than myself, if that makes sense.“
Mark returned to Ireland for the trial of his attacker, saying he wanted to try to understand why he did it.
“I decided to come back because I wanted to answer a few questions. First and foremost was why anybody would do such a thing…I consider myself an empathetic guy…I wanted to get behind this mind or logic why he would sucker-punch a person in the face with a bottle because that just really doesn’t make sense to me.”
While this incident has left Mark with “limitations” as a performer, he is hopeful that he can return to performing full-time someday.
“I’ve taken time to just train and try to get back in shape so I can travel again. I’m hopeful to travel again and do some shows around the world.“
Listen back to the whole interview with Mark Beltran on Liveline here.