SWANSEA: MAN SERIOUSLY INJURED IN ATTACK BY YOBS

MAN SERIOUSLY INJURED IN ATTACK BY YOBS
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A Man who got out of bed to remonstrate with noisy youths milling around outside his home was assaulted and left unconscious in the middle of the road.Peter Matthews suffered a life- threatening injury in the late-night incident in Pontarddulais.

He was given emergency treatment by paramedics at the scene before being rushed to Morriston Hospital where he remains in intensive care.

The 56-year-old Swansea University electronics technician has a blood clot to the brain and is being constantly monitored by doctors who are likely to operate if it fails to disperse.

On the night of the incident, Mr Matthews had been laid low by flu and a migraine. He had taken antibiotics and pain-killers before going to bed.

To allow him to rest undisturbed, his 52-year-old wife Denise used a separate bedroom at their bungalow home fronting onto Caecerrig Road.

Mrs Matthews, whose 27-year-old married daughter, Joanna White, lives in Swansea Maritime Quarter, said: "At about 12.30 in the morning I could hear voices outside.

"There were three youths in our drive, talking loudly. I got out of bed, knocked the window and gestured to them to move away.

"One of them was making faces at me through the window.

"I saw Peter out there. He had got up and put trousers on but he had nothing on his feet and was bare chested.

"He was in the middle of the road and there were seven or nine youngsters scattered about.

"I went out in my nightdress and one of them punched Peter and he fell onto his back, hitting his head on the road.

"His lip was split and he lost a tooth. He lay there bleeding, unconscious in the middle of the road.

"I went for the one who hit him. He was prancing around and pushing me. It was all bravado in front of his mates.

"A girl came behind me and pulled my hair and I knocked her off me.

"A car came down the road but one of the boys stopped it before it got to Peter, who was lying flat out.

"We got Peter to hospital and he later told me he was attacked by two of them.

"He's had two brain scans and doctors are monitoring a blood clot in his brain."

The incident in the early hours of Saturday prompted a major police investigation which led to the road being cordoned off.

Detective Sergeant Huw Rees, who is heading up the inquiry, confirmed that four local youths - one of them a girl - were subsequently arrested.

After being questioned, all have been released on police bail.