‘I’m dying, I love you’
What victim of horrific race hate attack told his parents
THE teenage victim of a brutal race hate attack called his parents to say ‘I’m dying, I love you’ before the line went dead as he lay seriously injured in the street.
Rugby player Matthew Hayden, 17, was left with a fractured skull and a bleed on the brain after being mowed down by a car and hit over the head with a golf club in the horrific, unprovoked assault in Smithy Bridge in the early hours of Saturday.
Yesterday, a 19-yearold man was arrested on suspicion of section 18 assault in connection with the attack. He remains in police custody for questioning.
Matthew’s parents, who asked not to be named, have now made an emotional appeal for information and revealed more details about the attack.
They said that after Matthew was hit with the golf club, the driver of the car – a Nissan Micra – tried to run him over a second time.
Despite his injuries, he managed to roll into a driveway.
Matthew’s parents thanked ‘brave’ nurses from a nearby care home who they believe saved their son’s life by giving him first aid.
Matthew’s mum said: “We got the call that every parent never wants to get.
“Matthew rang us saying he was dying. He said ‘I love you, but I’m going’, then his phone cut off and we didn’t even know where he was.”
A black Nissan Micra rammed into the back of a Vauxhall Corsa, in which Matthew was a passenger, at a roundabout on Smithy Bridge Road near Hollingworth Lake.
When Matthew, who plays for Littleborough RUFC, got out of the Corsa, he was hit by the Micra, flipping him over the bonnet and roof. He was then attacked with a golf club.
Matthew’s friend and fellow rugby player Josh Jones, 18, who was driving the Corsa, suffered injuries to his hand and face when another one of the attackers smashed the car window with a metal object, believed to be a crowbar. Another friend, Zac Madden, who was a passenger in the car, managed to escape unharmed.
Police, who are treating the incident as a hate crime, said that during the attack the group of four or five Asian males hurled racial abuse at Matthew and his friends.
The day before the attack, Matthew, an engineering apprentice from Milnrow, learned he had been accepted on a fouryear rugby scholarship at a US university. He won’t be able to accept the offer following the attack – and he may never play rugby again.
Matthew’s dad said: “He had a promising rugby career in front of him and they have taken his hopes and dreams away from him.”
Matthew underwent an emergency four-hour operation on Saturday at Salford Royal Hospital.
Anyone with information is asked to call 0161 856 8441 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.