Central Coast father Rob Seddon sprung into action in August last year when he heard a car crash outside his house — but while approaching the teen victim inside the vehicle, Rob was allegedly set upon by a group of males.
A coward punch in the alleged attack caused the 63-year-old to fall backwards and hit his head on the ground, knocking him unconscious, and leaving him with a brain injury.
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Now wheelchair-bound, Rob barely recognises his own family. He is unable to walk or talk properly and will require around-the-clock care.
He was one of a number of Hamlyn Terrace residents, including his 21-year-old son Kyle, to respond when the Toyota Corolla crashed on Skyhawk Avenue late on a Saturday night in August last year.
The car had smashed into a parked caravan, and residents were trying to help a 17-year-old boy trapped behind the wheel.
Rob, who was hoping to offer his first aid skills, didn’t even make it to the car when the group of men allegedly attacked him.
“He didn’t even get to the car, he didn’t even get to the car to help,” his daughter Lara told 7NEWS. “Dad could have died that night.
“(It) should never have happened in the first place.”
After the life-changing blow, Rob was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital, where he underwent brain surgery and remained in intensive care.
His son Kyle sustained a broken nose while trying to intervene, and told 7NEWS on Monday: “By the time I got down there, it was all done.”
For Rob’s wife of 23 years, Angela, that moment would also change the course of her life forever.
“I have to re-meet my husband again,” she told 7NEWS.
“He’s not going to be the person he was. I don’t know who he is, he’s a stranger.
“Our life that we knew, we don’t have anymore, it’s gone. He’ll never recover, he’ll never work again.”
Rob’s sister-in-law Natalie Milton-White wrote in a GoFundMe she organised: “He is unable to use his left arm and leg at this stage and is currently in a powered wheelchair with the assistance of someone driving for him.
“He remains in an amnesic/confused state and continues to have difficulties with orientation, remembering new memories, and self-management.
“He is inconsistent with following simple instructions and remains passive, very rarely initiating communication of his basic needs or feelings.”
“With the cost of living increasing and juggling time off work, (it’s) becoming a real struggle with mortgage payments and general expenses, with Rob not being able to work at all.”
Despite the financial, stress, Angela has given up her career to become her husband’s full-time carer.
She doesn’t qualify for NSW Victims Support Service carer compensation, however, as the service is “not satisfied her absence from employment was a direct result of the act of violence”.
Three men in their 20s have been arrested over the alleged attack and will appear at Gosford Court this month.
They face a total of 29 charges, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
“These people get to live their lives normally, and we will never be normal,” Angela said.
– With reporting from Annie Pullar
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