Friends support assault victim

Niamh Nolan

Trevor Sutton, 30, from Kilmacow, Co Waterford, spent 11 days in a coma in St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney last September after being assaulted by a nightclub bouncer.

While he has made a substantial recovery, injuries to his ear have left him unable to fly home until he undergoes another operation in Australia.

"It was a desperate phone call to get, I wouldn't wish it on anyone," Trevor's mother, Phyllis, recalled yesterday from her Co Waterford home.

"I want to have him home, but he's getting the medical care he needs there they seem to want to treat him there and he can't fly home anyhow."

The young man was assaulted on the night of last September's All-Ireland hurling final when the hurling enthusiast was out on the town with a group of friends from the Central Coast GAA club.

In the aftermath of the incident, Trevor's two sisters travelled to Sydney to be by their brother's side.

Mrs Sutton followed them out and spent a month with her son.

"Since then he's been in and out of hospital. . . he's coming around but he can't work or do anything out there now," she said.

With court proceedings being initiated in the case and further medical treatment necessary, Trevor has been looked after by Fr Tom Devereaux, a priest from Galway and his many Irish friends in Sydney.