Greg Claassen
Nottingham

Hi, i just thought to send a message regarding an incident that happened to myself in late 2005 and how it effected me afterwards.

I was walking home from a Birthday party in Nottingham city centre in the early hours, i noticed a car pull up in front of me and a woman got out of the car, the car pulled off. This woman walked some 20 yards ahead of me, walked up to a bus shelter where a young girl was waiting for a bus and attacked the young girl for no reason then walked off without a word spoken. I went to the aid of the young girl who turned out to be deaf to see if she was ok- I can lip read and asked her if she needed help etc she said she was ok but shocked and said she was going to flag a taxi down which she eventually did. I carried on walking a few yards when i was set upon by an Asian male, i was knocked unconscious and woke up around 20 mins later in an ambulance, a medic told me i had been stabbed and badly beaten.
The police were waiting for me at the hospital for me to give a statement which i did as best i could ( my front teeth had been kicked out and i had been bleeding badly as my subclavian vein in my right arm had been severed, i also had deep slash marks to my face and head). The people who had attacked me had been caught minutes after the incident. I had to stay on a drip in hospital for some time on strong pain killers.

The police told me that i had to wait for the trial, this i did for 10 months without any contact until the probation service called me to say that the guy who attacked me was being released that very day with a tagging system after spending 2 and a half months in prison (he was sentenced to a year for wounding as it was deemed by the CPS that the perpetrator of the incident didn't intentionally go out of his way to stab me, this is strange as i have a letter from the CPS stating that he asked his friend to pass him the knife- i was stabbed while unconscious!!!). I had no idea it had gone to trial- anything, after this i became more hyper-vigilant and depressed, i used to be a volunteer welfare rights adviser but couldn't face people, nor could i go out of my house without having panic attacks.
I wrote to the Crown Prosecution Service about my case asking if i could see transcripts of the court hearing etc (i wanted to know why the guy who attacked me got such a short sentence- it turned out he was a Sikh guy driving around in his car with a kitchen knife- i have no idea if his religion is of any relevance to the case- who knows?), i was told the defendant plea bargained and i could not see any of the case files, they apologized that i had not been contacted beforehand over the matter.

The main point that i just do not understand is the stonewalling of all the major services. I was assessed by a psychiatrist to be having post traumatic stress disorder, i was given the assessment to pass on to my GP which i did, i was then prescribed Prozac and that was it! I was at first on a waiting list to see my local mental health team but i was never given an appointment. I couldn't work or function as i did before the incident- even to this day ( i am trying to gain my confidence back but it is difficult and i have no outside help at all- i am only receiving Incapacity Benefit as i still suffer panic attacks!). It would seem the attitude of all the services is- get over it, i want to but its difficult- even my close friends who sometimes come to see me at home ( as i don't go out due to incident) say i have changed and have become withdrawn. The police and CPS have failed me, and i still haven't received anything from Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority- i just don't know where to turn and i am in debt due to not being able to work (i have contacted my local law centre but they are run off their feet!!!!).

Paul Gregory Claassen, Nottingham, England/Nottinghamshire