Crime stories: Interview with a 23-year-old man who was a victim of serious assault.
“It happened last year July. We were at a party, it was like a village event. I was with my girlfriend and a couple of friends. It was almost at the end of the party, around 2 am, when I bumped into someone. The other person didn’t respond well, he got mad. I walked away with a friend of mine, but I got pushed in the back. I turned around and got punched in the face. I was out. They called an ambulance. My girl went to another friend and they got security. They tried to catch the guy who did it, but he got away.
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Injuries from the Assault
Two hours later, I woke up in the hospital. They asked me whether I was in any pain. I couldn’t talk. The whole left side of my face hurt. They did a ct-scan. It turned out that my cheek bone was broken in two places. Part of the bone had broken off.
After a couple of hours, they dismissed me from the hospital. They gave me a lot of medication to take home. I had a severe concussion and a broken cheek bone. I was in bed for six weeks, on painkillers. The first two weeks, I couldn’t eat at all. Only very small pieces of bread, and liquids. I couldn’t get my jaws to open up, everything was completely swollen. I wasn’t allowed to blow my nose, or I would blow up my cheek. That was kind of hard, to not do that when you know that you’re not allowed to do it. After those six weeks, I went back to work. They said I should start with working half days. But I just wanted to get back to work, just full steam ahead.
Who Committed the Assault?
One day after it happened, I found out who did it. I didn’t know him. I initially thought that it had been someone else, but it wasn’t. He called my dad and said that it had been him.
I reported it to the police after three days. I wanted justice, I didn’t want him to get away with it. I had his name, address, phone number, everything. The police handled the case well. I could call them anytime I wanted if I had questions. The police called the guy who did it and told him to come to the police station. I got a call from victim support. They offered someone to talk to, but I didn’t find that necessary. I don’t really see myself sitting there, talking with someone like that. I don’t really see the use. It’s not like I have any psychological issues because of it. Or maybe I do, I don’t know.
Victim Support and Court
I had to report all my costs to victim support, the pain meds that I had to pay. And just the damage that had been done to me. Then they made a calculation. They sent it to court or something, and court decided that the compensation should be higher than what victim support had calculated. That court decision took a long time, by the way. I got the letter from the court in February. In the end, they set the financial compensation at 750 Euro. I didn’t really have a say in it. I had expected more actually. Like maybe 1,500 Euro.
He had to pay before March 15th. But he didn’t. So I called the court, and they told me he’d get one reminder. Again, he didn’t pay. So now it’s going back to court. It’ll be on the 22nd of June. He has to pay, that’s what the judge says. There’s not much that I can do about whether or not he pays.
Why?
In the beginning, I thought about it a lot, every day. Like, why did he do it? You’re constantly asking yourself why he did it. It messes you up. It makes you very uncertain, that you don’t know why. The police officer later told me that there wasn’t really a reason. That was a relief, to know that. You no longer have to ask yourself why. Now that I know that, it’s easier to shake it off. But it sucks, of course, that there wasn’t really a reason for what he did. It just really sucks. I was angry that it happened, plus for no reason. I blame him for it.
Stories of Revenge
I thought about getting back at him, of course. But that wouldn’t get me anywhere. I could get back at him, but I don’t like that, plus it wouldn’t help me. My friends said to me, “Come on, let’s go and get him.” But I told them, “Don’t do it. I’m working on this with the police, and I’ll only get into trouble.” It would just make things worse.
Effects from the Assault
The worst thing about it for me was the pain. And six weeks of pain killers. That’s not fun. I had to take nine pain killers per day. I wasn’t me anymore. So after five weeks I said, “I quit, no more pain killers.” I’d rather have the pain.
I used to go out at least twice a month, to large dance events and stuff. I don’t do that anymore. Now, I go maybe once every two months. Unconsciously, you keep getting that feeling: “what if something happens?” The fear that it can happen again is getting less. But I’m not going to that village event again this July. I don’t want to run into him again. When I go to a party now, it’s further away. I don’t want to run into him again.
When I go out now, there’s always a part of me that is afraid that it will happen again. I don’t really feel like I have control over it. When it happens, it happens. You won’t know. I wasn’t exactly expecting it. Something like this can always happen. You can’t prevent it. The police can’t either. They won’t know that it is going to happen.
The Other Assault
This was the second time that something like this happened, actually. The other time was two year ago. I was outside calling on my phone, and I woke up in the hospital. I was attacked by someone from behind. My hips were bruised, they kicked me there, and the muscles in my neck were bruised. I have no idea who did it. Nobody saw it. I was in the hospital for five hours, and on sick leave for a week. After that incident, I kept going out, because I didn’t know who had done it, or what his reason was. I don’t know.
The second time was worse than the first time. I mean, my cheek bone was broken, and it still hurts. It was also difficult for my girlfriend. I had to lie down a lot and rest. And so she had to do everything around the house, with the kids and everything.
Dead Teeth
The nerve in my cheek is either cut, or bruised up pretty badly, or it’s pinched. So I can’t feel the upper row of my teeth. Most people don’t understand, because you don’t usually feel your teeth. But it feels different, it’s hard to explain. It feels dead, and yet painful. You normally don’t feel that your teeth are there, and now it’s like you feel that they’re there. It’s sensitive. They don’t know whether I’ll ever be able to feel normally again. They’re still trying to find out. The oral surgeon told me that they could operate, but that it would be risky. There are all kinds of important nerves there, and if they cut them, well …. It’s just too risky.
When I bend over, or when it’s cold, it hurts pretty badly. Or when I have a cold and blow my nose. And I can’t bite off hard things. Like biting an apple on this side, for example. And it hurts when I’m brushing my teeth. There are several people in the hospital who are trying to find out where the pain is coming from. They’re haven’t succeeded yet.
Getting Used to It
I hope the pain will go away, but I don’t know for sure. See, if they would tell me that they can medicate the hell out of my cheek bone for a year so that the pain goes away, then I’m all for it. But if it’s constantly numb, then I’d have to think about it. What do I want, a numb feeling, or walking around with pain?
I wanted to do this interview to be able to tell my story again. To help someone. I still think about it every now and then. I notice the pain and discomfort every day, but I don’t always think back to what happened when I feel the pain. There’s nothing positive that came out of it, but I’m starting to get used to it.”
This real crime story of a victim of assault is part of the “Crime Stories” series. These real crime stories show how crimes like assault can affect lives. They were recorded as part of the author’s criminological research.
