THE distraught family of a man left unable to speak after being punched have voiced their anger over his attacker’s sentence.
David Morton Thomas, 39, of Johnstown, sustained a serious head injury after being attacked in the Temple Bar in Chester in March 2010.
He spent several months receiving specialist treatment at the Walton Hospital, Liverpool, but has since returned closer to home at Pendine Park Care Home in Stansty.
Alan Junior Gilmartin was last year jailed for two-and-a-half years for the attack, but family members fear he could be released in the coming weeks after serving half his sentence.
They have made calls for the sentence to be reviewed and feel his release from prison would compound their misery.
Mr Thomas’ sister, Kim Jones, told the Leader discussions have been held with organisations including Victim Support which has indicated Gilmartin may be released shortly, but no exact date has been announced.
“He’s going to be released back to his normal life while our lives will never be the same again,” said Mrs Jones, 49.
“He is the one who committed the crime but we are the ones with the life sentence.
“It’s the wrong way round.”
Mrs Jones, who frequently visits Mr Thomas at Pendine Park along with brother Andrew, mother Dilys and fiancee Caroline, says the family’s efforts to see legal changes implemented to help gain increased justice for families have so far been unsuccessful.
“It has been very frustrating at the lack of progress we have made so far,” she said.
“But we won’t give up.
“What we want is more appropriate sentences to be handed out. I don’t feel the sentence given was appropriate for ruining people’s lives.”
“It is not just us going through this. You see on the news how other families are going through similar things and you hope something can be done for the benefit of all of us.”
Gilmartin, 30, of Sycamore Lodge, Lache, pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm while out of prison on licence.
The family has previously voiced its disappointment at the content of a letter sent from Attorney General Dominic Grieve MP to Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones late last year.
In the letter, Mr Grieve said there was “no possibility” he could seek to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal for review.
Ms Elan Jones said she was appalled at this letter, believing Mr Grieve overlooked
“Gilmartin’s long history of violent crime” and why he was out on licence in the first place.
“This family and the rest of our society have been failed by the British justice system,” she said at the time.
Mrs Jones said the family continue to hope improvements are made in her brother’s condition, having been unable to speak since the attack.
“Little has changed in recent months,” said Mrs Jones.
“But we continue to hope and pray he will recover.”
The family is awaiting a meeting with a consultant at Walton Hospital to discuss Mr Thomas’ condition.