Hunt for attackers after vicious street assault in Portsmouth
VICTIM Paul Butler was attacked on the way home from a night out
A MAN left battered and bruised after a gang set upon him in an unprovoked attack said: ‘I just don’t know why.’
Paul Butler was left with a suspected fractured cheekbone, cuts above and below his right eye, a black eye, swelling and bruising following the vicious assault.
Mr Butler, from Lawrence Road, Southsea, said: ‘I just don’t know why. It makes me so annoyed.
‘I’ve gone my whole life without getting in any trouble.
‘I don’t understand why it happened.’
The 27-year-old was walking home with a friend after a night out in Portsmouth when he attacked by a group of up to three men.
Mr Butler had just left Scandals cellar bar in Hampshire Terrace when the assault happened in the street at about 2am on Saturday.
He was punched to the ground where he was repeatedly kicked.
Mr Butler eventually managed to run away and his friend called an ambulance.
The musician needed treatment at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham following his ordeal, where a cut above his eye was glued back together.
Mr Butler said: ‘We left Scandals at 2am and were walking down Hampshire Terrace towards Kings Road. We walked past a house party.
‘My housemate only said “are you having a party?” By the time she had finished that sentence there were two or three guys pounding me.
‘They hit me a few times – I went down. They were kicking me on the floor and I was in the road.
‘We eventually managed to run away and phoned the ambulance.
‘We were just walking home, having a chat. The next thing I knew I was on the floor.
‘The only thing is we tried to get a cab but he was booked so we thought we would walk.
‘If we could have got in the cab it would have been totally fine.
‘I was unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Luckily I managed to get away.
‘There was no reason to do it. If I had been lairy or said something maybe, but the fact that they think it’s OK to smash somebody up for absolutely no reason – I think they need to sort their lives out. I’ve never had a fight in my life.’
Anyone with information about the attack is asked to contact Hampshire Constabulary on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
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Weather for Portsmouth
Thursday 24 May 2012
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