“They stamped out the life of my son like a discarded cigarette,” said Lothar-Günther K., the father of 20-year-old Jonny, who was killed in the early hours of Sunday by a gang who kicked and beat him so badly he died soon afterwards.

“He was a good boy. I cannot understand why this was done to him,” the father told the BZ newspaper.

Jutta Porzucek, head of the Berlin murder squad investigating the case, said Jonny had been with three friends on the night in question, drinking in several bars in the Alexanderplatz area of the city.

“One had been carrying the drunken friend piggy back until he was too heavy,” said Porzucek. Then, as another went to try to find a taxi, he put the drunken companion on a chair.

But one of the attackers kicked the chair away, leaving the piggy-back pair to fall to the ground and prompting Jonny to complain, asking “What are you doing – can’t you see he’s not doing so well?” the BZ reported on Wednesday.

This seemingly sparked the deadly attack, with Jonny punched to the floor and then repeatedly kicked. He suffered such severe brain injuries that he died in hospital on Monday. His friend who had been carrying the third young man was attacked when he tried to intervene, and suffered a fractured cheekbone.

Now detectives are hoping that guests at a party being held by a Turkish artist in the nearby bar Cancun, could offer help in identifying the up to seven young men who attacked Jonny.

“Some of the 500 to 700 participants could have seen something as they were outside smoking,” said Porzucek.

Her team is currently examining footage from security cameras in the area for any sign of the attackers.

The police said Jonny’s friends had described the group as possibly of Arabic origin – but that their descriptions were somewhat hazy, and other witnesses were desperately needed.

In order to aid anyone who may have witnessed the attack, the police described Jonny’s group as two Asians and one black man, Die Welt newspaper reported. The paper said there was no suggestion that the attackers had been at the Cancun bar.

The Local/hc