Drunken violence continues to plague Dunedin’s streets. It is not limited to any demographic or any suburb.
Ryan thought street violence was confined to those picking fights; he thought it was a problem confined to late, hazy nights; and he thought little of the car that pulled up next to him as he walked to work on the morning of December 26, 2016.
It was about 7.05am when Joel Thomas Blundson leapt out of the driver’s door of his car in St Kilda and attacked Ryan — a stranger — because he was riled after drunkenly arguing with his girlfriend.
‘‘All I can remember is him punching me in the face and falling to the ground,’’ Ryan, who did not want to reveal his surname, said.
‘‘He started yelling ‘You know me’ and I had never met him before in my life.
‘‘He was intent on going straight for me. I remember him kicking me in the head about seven or eight times.’’
The assault, which Ryan believed occurred over about three minutes, left him concussed, bruised and battered.
‘‘I don’t remember all of it. I still don’t remember what he looks like.’’
A member of the public came to Ryan’s aid, taking him to Dunedin Hospital.
After the attack, Ryan was incapable of working for the next three months.
‘‘I still get headaches. I still forget things. Since then, the smallest things annoy me.’’
He has since been diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, but the most damaging injuries were psychological.
‘‘Sometimes I’m too scared to leave the house by myself because it could happen again.
‘‘I didn’t think it would happen to me, but after that I always had to look behind me all the time everywhere I went — I still do.’’
Blundson was recently sentenced to two years and two months in jail for the attack.
‘‘He could’ve got longer,’’ Ryan said.
‘‘I have wondered about when he gets out whether he will come and try and find me because of what happened.’’
timothy.brown@odt.co.nz
