‘I’ve been at his bedside every day’
THE mum of a Welsh dad-of-four who is in an induced coma after being stabbed in Portugal while on a stag do has said he has had six operations.
She has also pleaded with others in his position to “not wander off”.
Sue Bridges gave a tearful television interview with the BBC as her son Joel Collins remains in hospital in Faro having had his sixth operation as news is awaited on his latest surgery.
As reported in Monday’s Echo, the 35-year-old, from Troedyrhiw, near Merthyr Tydfil, was allegedly stabbed without provocation while walking home on July 4 after getting separated from his friends on a night out at the popular resort.
He was taken to hospital in Faro by a member of the public who came across him unconscious in the street with four deep wounds in his abdomen.
Mr Collins had suffered lacerations to his pancreas, lungs, intestines and stomach and is in intensive care after multiple separate operations.
His family have been told there is no CCTV footage to help explain what happened, although a forensic examination is now under way.
The Foreign Office says it is in touch with the local authorities.
Sue, in a new interview with BBC Wales Today, said: “He is a very, very loving father to his four children. They absolutely idolise him. Obviously it has taken a toll on everyone.
“I think he went up a side street, he seems to think, and got his phone out to look at Google Maps because he didn’t know where he was and he had lost his way back to the hotel.
“All he can remember is pulling his phone out and someone coming towards him.
“He’s not sure if it was one person, a gang – he really doesn’t know.
“I’ve been at his bedside every day and I won’t be going anywhere until he comes home.
“Everybody thinks it’s not going to happen to them. Please tell your children to stick together.
“Don’t wander off – make sure you all go out together and you all come home together. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. I don’t want any family to go through this again.”