Powys man jailed for leaving Newtown dad in permanent coma

Kenneth Jones, aged 21, was told by the judge that his punch effectively ended Jamie Selvey's life after the court was told that he is unlikely to wake up.

The 41-year-old was punched outside The Bell Hotel in Commercial Street, Newtown on June 9 last year after the court heard he had "badgered" Jones for drugs.

Mold Crown Court heard that Jones called 999 and remained with Mr Selvey until medics arrived.

Jones, from Knighton, admitted inflicting malicious grievous bodily harm (GBH) and was sentenced on Thursday, February 29, to 27 months in prison.

His Honour Judge Niclas Parry told the 21-year-old that he may return to court for a "far more serious offence" when Mr Selvey dies.

The judge said: "By your actions you have effectively ended the life of your victim, a man clearly under the influence of something, you struck him to the floor and he was rendered unconscious and he remains in vegetative state and the prognosis is poor.

"One cannot imagine the sadness and devastation your victim’s family, his parents and two boys aged 11 and eight, seeing their son and father completely bed bound relying on tubing for food, drink and breath.

"This was unnecessary violence with tragic consequences."

The air ambulance and police at the scene after the punch last summer. (Image: County Times readers)

Prosecuting barrister Thomas McLoughlin said the single punch was captured on CCTV following a verbal altercation which resulted in "catastrophic" injuries to Mr Selvey who needed brain surgery. In recent weeks he was moved from his months-long stay in hospital to a nursing home for palliative care.

Mr McLoughlin said: "There have been no signs of improvement for six months or perhaps longer. Any medical intervention is minimal which is unsurprising. The prognosis from Dr Salim is to quote 'frankly poor' but there is no definitive timeline as what the doctor described as the 'inevitable'."

A victim impact statement by Alan and Jennifer Selvey on behalf of their son was read out in court by the barrister which shared their "utter devastation" since attack.

"To truly understand the impact it has had on us you need to understand the person he was," they said.

"He is a 41-year-old man who was fighting his own battle and tried to turn his life around."

Mr Selvey's parents said the hardworking and funny man and "fantastic" footballer was always ready to lend a hand to anybody in the community.

"He will never regain consciousness," they added. "He is merely existing. His choice was taken away from one needless act of violence.

“We have lost our youngest child. We watch his life slowly ebbs away. His children have had their father taken in the cruellest of ways. The person who should be by their side guiding them has gone.

Jamie Selvey playing for Kerry (Image: Powys County Times)

“We are waiting for the inevitable day of his death but we cling to hope."

Jones' barrister Philip Clemo told the court that he would not minimise the tragedy of the case.

"Mr Jones is incredibly sorry and remorseful for what has happened," he added. 

"This weighs on him a lot and you may recall that when [Mr Selvey's brother] Mr Dace gave evidence at trial it was Mr Jones' desire that I say how sorry he was for the pain he has caused to Mr Dace's family. That speaks of the genuine remorse that he feels.

"He knew that when he entered a guilty plea the inevitable sort of sentence he will face and that has been hanging over him during this time. It's been nerve-wracking for him.

"He is a man described as being more immature than truly wicked. A man who needs to address his emotional baggage from his upbringing.

"He is clearly not a straightforward thug who has pleasure from violence. As it happened, he aided Mr Selvey and called an ambulance and placed him in the best possible position until medics arrived. He is a man who is genuinely kind.

"It is sad because was under the influence of cocaine as a younger man and your honour will remember from key evidence that at the time of the event, he was trying to better himself and was off drugs for several months."

He added: "This was an unforgiveable act of violence, but it was not a random act of violence. Whilst no one can condone Mr Jones' behaviour, he found the situation unusually stressful, but it doesn't change that.

"The truth is there will be no winners today. Mr Jones will be sentenced today and again; when that day is we don't know. One expects the time will come in the not-too distant future.

"No sentence will balm the wounds for Mr Selvey's family, that can never be the case. This is a real genuine tragedy of a very short-lived one-off incident."

Before sentencing Jones to 27 months in prison, the judge said: "I accept that you are remorseful and you did not intend such catastrophic consequences and I cannot ignore your reaction at the scene is that you turned to help immediately and you used such skills to assist your victim until emergency services arrives, which you called."

Jones told his family "I'm going down and see you soon" before being led away to the cells to begin his prison sentence.