Family of assault victim talk about the impact it’s left on their lives
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“He wishes the man had killed him – life will never be the same again.”
These are the words of the heartbroken wife whose husband was subjected to a vicious assault in August last year.
The 36-year-old mother of three spoke about the impact that incident in August last year has had on her husband and the family after the defendant was sentenced today (Thursday 26 May) to ten years and eight months in prison.
Callum McDermott pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to a number of offences after he attacked a 45-year-old taxi driver in Saffron Lane, Leicester, and assaulted a number of officers.
He was sentenced for Section 18 Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) with intent, assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) to a police officer, two counts of assault on an emergency worker and Section 5 racially-aggravated public order.
On 23 August McDermott stood in the middle of the road, stopping vehicles from getting by. The victim approached McDermott and was then viciously attacked by him. He was kicked and punched multiple times while he was on the ground.
The victim sustained multiple complex facial fractures and was placed in an induced coma with life threatening injuries.
After a number of months of treatment and rehabilitation he was discharged from hospital.
His memory of what happened that morning is virtually non-existent. The assault has left him with physical and mental scars.
The family relied on him financially and he’s not been able to work as a taxi driver since and there is doubt whether he will ever be able to return to that profession.
He continues to receive ongoing treatment at home to assist him in regaining some normality into his life.
His wife described how he’s changed as a person, without work he feels he’s not a good husband or father.
She said: “He’s been extremely depressed and can be tearful – he knows something has happened to him he just can’t remember what.
“We originally come from Sri Lanka and he often says he just wants to go back to his homeland and leave the UK.
“My older daughter is 10 years old, she knows something has happened and her dad has changed. She was an extremely intelligent girl and as a result of what’s happened her school work started to suffer. Luckily the school have been able to support her and provide some wellbeing counselling to help her.
“The detectives who have been investigating this case have been supportive and making adjustments so my husband is able to provide evidence via a video recording and didn’t have to stand up in court and talk about what he remembers or the impact on him now.
“When the officers came to our home on the morning of the assault I thought they were just there to speak to me or tell me something – I never expected it to be about my husband being seriously assaulted.
“I was in shock for days, luckily family and friends rallied around us and were there to support me and the children through the traumatic time.
“That day changed our lives forever and I don’t know whether life will ever be the same for us again.
“How can someone do that to another person, does he not have a family, doesn’t he have a heart?
“I can only hope now that my husband will recover in some way and be able to return to work and we can be a normal family again.”