THE mother of a young man left in intensive care after a vicious assault has thanked the doormen who “saved his life”.
The victim, aged 21, suffered a broken jaw and a bleed on the brain, requiring 70 staples, after he was repeatedly kicked in the head.
He and his brother, aged 19, were attacked by a group of men in Culver Street West, Colchester, in the early hours of Sunday, July 24.
The pair’s mother received a call at around 2.20am reporting her son had been taken to Colchester Hospital.
He was blue-lighted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Cambridge, for surgery and spent 24 hours on a ventilator.
She said: “He’s doing well and getting stronger, they are still carrying out a lot of assessments.
“He was in intensive care for 48 hours before he was moved to the high dependency unit.
“I wanted to give a big thank you to everyone who helped him, especially the doormen at Walkabout and Hudson.
“One of them was basically holding his head together at one point. He was stamped on repeatedly and suffered multiple injuries, all aimed at his head. There wasn’t a single bruise on the rest of his body.
“A lot of the general public were also there helping them. Two young ladies stayed with my other son whilst the ambulance and SOS bus dealt with my unconscious son.”
The victim’s mother said her younger son “thought his brother was dead” in the aftermath of the attack.
She said the doormen delivered first aid to her son, who is now conscious and talking.
“I think door staff often get bad press, but if it wasn’t for them he would have died,” she said.
“The consultant after surgery said another hour and he wouldn’t have survived.”
The victim, who works as a barber, will require further surgery to his broken jaw.
His mum added: “The initial shock of it, of not knowing whether my son was going to survive, was awful.
“My mum actually passed away at the beginning of the year. Five months later, for this to happen, I can’t tell you the stress it has caused us – the worry and the upset.
“My son served in the Navy for four years, he’s been all over the world, he’s been in the Middle East, but to come back to his hometown for this to happen – it is disgusting."
Two men, aged 20 and 23, from Norwich, were arrested following the assault and later released under investigation.
An 18-year-old man was also arrested, but police say he will face no further action at this stage.
Anyone with information should contact police on 101, citing incident 146 of July 24.
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