AN ABERYSTWYTH student (pictured) who was punched so hard his jaw was broken has welcomed the jailing of his attacker.

Joshua McLeish, 20, was the second victim in a string of assaults carried out in Aberystwyth by 21-year-old Ellis McGuinness on 16 March this year.

Joshua, a student at Aberystwyth University said McGuinness, who was jailed for 20 months at Swansea Crown Court on Friday, “got exactly what he deserved”.

Joshua told the Cambrian News that at around 11.30pm he had gone to Spar to grab some food.

“As I was walking back to the seafront, I had a quick glance at the guy and he said something to me about weed,” Joshua said.

“I said I didn’t want or have any weed and he then asked me where I was from and I said Birmingham.

“He said to me ‘you’re not in Birmingham any more, you’re in my town’.

“He then told me to give him a tenner or I was going to get hurt. I didn’t have any money on me and showed him the inside of my wallet to prove it.

“After a few seconds he hit me on the right of my jaw when I wasn’t looking. I went down to one knee after the punch and he pushed me against the wall and to the floor.

“I think he tried to hit me a couple more times after he pushed me down.

“He then walked off saying he knew where I lived, he knew where my mum lived and ‘don’t go to the police’.”

After the ordeal, Joshua “checked to see he hadn’t been robbed” then checked his face and “knew something was wrong”.

“I could feel that my right canine was risen above the rest of my lower jaw,” he said.

“I knew at that point I had to go to hospital.”

Two local residents, Alex Jones and Mathew Savage, who spotted Joshua staggering in the street, came to his aid and walked him to Bronglais Hospital.

The pair stayed with him for several hours and phoned Joshua’s dad to let him know what had happened.

He was later transferred to the Queen Elizabeth hospital for surgery.

Joshua, who still experiences pain in the jaw several months on, said the sentencing of McGuinness is a weight off his shoulders.

“He got exactly what he deserved for what he did to a number of people throughout the night.

“I believe he deserves everything that is coming his way as there is no need to be the kind of person he was that night."

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