Gareth had horrific injuries

Oct 9 2009

ALTHOUGH Gareth Steven only sustained a small stab wound on the outside of his body, his internal injuries were far more horrific.

Doctors performed amazing surgery through the night in a desperate bid to save his life.

Gareth’s lung was punctured through and through, there was a hole in his stomach and his liver was cut.

A hole in his diaphragm allowed Gareth’s small bowel to move up into his chest cavity.

Consultant surgeon Abdul Ali told the High Court in Kilmarnock: “These were life-threatening injuries. Medical staff were having difficulty stabilising his blood pressure, pulse and oxygen saturation levels.

“It was clear that he would not survive for the next hour or so. It was a very serious situation.”

Dr Ali rushed Gareth into theatre.

He explained that although there was only one stab wound, there were two tracks of injury inside Gareth’s body. Dr Ali continued: “If we hadn’t operated immediately he would have died.”

The surgeons cut Gareth from his shoulder round to his belly button to allow them to clamp the artery that was bleeding and perform the complex surgery.