'It's ruined my life' (From Barry And District News)

'It's ruined my life'

A BARRY dad who was beaten up whilst celebrating the birth of his baby daughter has said the attack has "ruined his life".

Twenty-five year old David Gee of Queen Street was viciously assaulted on July 19, when a happy night out to celebrate daughter Cerys' arrival turned into a nightmare.

He was attacked by four men who repeatedly bashed his skull and kicked his face. He was left with multiple fractures and a broken jaw.

The father-of two has since undergone a series of painful operations to try to repair the damage.

His face was so badly beaten, his three year old daughter Jordan was afraid to come near him when he first left hospital.

David said: "I was calling Jordan and she wouldn't come to me, she just didn't recognise me. It was horrible."

But the industrial printer has not only been left with the physical scars. He has been deeply affected by the incident and is finding it difficult to get on with his life.

Speaking with his partner, Lyndsay Brown, he said he still has trouble sleeping and is prone to bouts of aggression.

David told the News: "I'm still on medication. I was taking depression tablets for a while but they were making me worse.

"I was getting more depressed when I took them, I ended up always shouting at Lyndsay and arguing.

"I'm still taking sleeping tablets because for months I couldn't sleep.

"I used to keep waking up in the early hours of the morning."

Lyndsay, 22, added: "They ruined his life and should have their lives ruined.

"He's still angry and his personality has changed."

The couple are also struggling with debt problems because David has been unable to work.

He said: "I'm in a lot of debt because I haven't been working all this time."

Last week the four men, Leigh Ballantyne, 21 of Aberaeron Close, Barry; Matthew John Gannon, 19, of Milton Street, Aberdare; Richard McCauley, 21, whose address in Barry is unknown; and Matthew Turner, 18, of Oakway, Cardiff, were sentenced to a total of 27 years for carrying out the attack.

David said he has mixed feelings about the sentence.

He said: "They should have had more but I am happy with the sentence, at the end of the day they left me for dead, as the judge said, they showed no mercy, they just carried on, looking for space to kick me after they bashed me with a brick."

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall described the attack as 'horrendous and despicable.'

He told the defendants: "David Gee's face was smashed with a rock and he fell unconscious but another rock was driven into his face several times, his head was smashed against a wall and you all joined in, jostling for space to kick him"