POLICE have released shocking pictures of a builder left needing 60 stitches to his forehead after he was head-butted by a thug on the Barbican.
Investigators hope the images of the man's injuries will prompt witnesses to come forward and name his attacker.
Neil Rogers, of Weston Mill was on his way home at around 9.45pm on December 18 after a works do at the Barbican Kitchen.
As he moved through a crowd on the pavement outside the Cider Press on Quay Road he was attacked and left in a pool of blood. Treated by paramedics at the scene before being taken to Derriford Hospital, he did not regain consciousness for another six hours.
Neil, aged 47, said: "I'm at the age when I know when I've had enough and it was time to go home and get a taxi.
"I was walking along Quay Road and it was pretty busy. I saw a bit of a scuffle on the harbourside so I thought I'd take the footpath between the pubs and the outside eating areas."
However, as Neil made his way through the crowd he believes an innocent nudge may have sparked the attack.
He said: "I was merry. I am not a fighter at all. I honestly don't know if I may have knocked into someone and didn't realise. Something must've happened though.
"I remember I went to turn my head – and that's it. I was told later I was one-and-a-half hours on the floor, face down. It was six hours before I woke up. I remember lifting my head up and then passing out."
Piecing together information from paramedics Neil learned he was head-butted, but as he collapsed his forehead clipped a glass barrier, ripping his scalp open, before his head then struck the pavement.
He said: "The doctor said it was like a razor cut even before my head hit the granite.
"He told me I had 'won the lottery'. He said 'how you're not brain damaged I do not know'."
However, Neil's serious injury developed complications and he was back in hospital undergoing more surgery.
He said: My core temperature went up, I was shaking, delirious, my blood pressure went up. Stuff was constantly leaking out [of the wound] and I had blood in the ear. I was quite worried."
He returned to hospital to be told the wound was infected and needed to be re-stitched, leaving him with around 60 internal and external stitches. The attack has also left Neil deeply unsettled. He said his teenage daughter was in tears at the sight of him and he knew the matter was serious when he woke up in hospital as his wife had brought along her brother for support.
He said: "She calls him when it's something really bad so when I came round and saw him there next to her I knew something serious had happened.
"I'm a big bloke, 17 stone, and my head took all the impact when I fell.
"I'm looking at it now thinking it could've been so much worse.
"I could've been dead and never had chance to say goodbye to my family.
"The person who did this probably didn't mean to hurt me this bad, but they have to take the consequences of what they did. Apparently a witness said they just walked away.
"I went out to the shops the other day and while I'm not a person who's scared, I found myself feeling worried and vulnerable. I was looking at people wondering if they were the one who did this to me. It's a horrible feeling, it's like being paranoid, worrying about who your attacker is."
Lead investigator Det Con Christian Ferris said CCTV footage from the area was being gathered in an attempt to identify the suspect.
He said: "This is a horrific attack and it is being investigated as grievous bodily harm.
"It has had a severe impact on the victim's life, both immediate and ongoing.
"We are appealing to anyone who was in area at time who either saw or knows the offender to come forward to police or contact Crimestoppers anonymously."
If you can assist police with their inquiries contact them on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 quoting crime reference number CR/087704/15.
↧