Witnessed a crime

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I was literally about 10ft away from a horrible attack today.

I saw it all unfold right before my eyes. Initially I thought it was just some lads messing about, but it wasn't. There were quite a few people and suddenly one went for another. There was a couple of punches thrown, then the 'attacker' grabbed a bottle out of the victims hand, smashed it on the ground and slashed his face from temple to jaw. I was frozen on the spot, I couldn't move. I'm already a highly anxious person and this has really triggered something inside me.

I called the police straight away and they came pretty quickly.

What is shocking is that this was in broad daylight in the town. The victim was pissing blood everywhere.

Thankfully the ambulance came and I'm hoping he's okay.

How awful- for the victim and yourself having seen it first hand. Well done for being able to phone the police! Did the police offer any follow up to what happened, counselling, contact numbers etc? Sometimes talking through the incident with friends/family can be a relief- like deflating an overblown type. If you feel its disrupting you day to day life going forward though, not sleeping, can't work etc, speak to your GP about further support.

I am sorry to hear you witnessed that, and glad you were able to call the Police and they came quickly.

DW and I stumbled on a similar incident in broad daylight a couple of years ago. A 15-20 man brawl erupted in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the street with bottles being thrown.

Dw was very shaken and upset, but I have witnessed (and helped deal with similar) through work before. A couple of door staff from a nearby venue came over and was able to help break it up. I instinctively wanted to go and help them, but needed to stay with dw and get her away from it.

Try to do whatever you need to get yourself through it in the next couple of days. Were you a witness for the Police and give your details? They can put you in touch with victim support, as a witness and technically a victim as it was in public, so if you didn't give your details at the time, you could do it afterwards and they can still refer you on.

I have had a call from the police and they just wanted me to run through what happened, but I was told that I might be contacted for a formal statement and potentially go to court if it goes that far, which I feel is unlikely.

Nothing was given to me in terms of counselling.

You might need to ask. They may not realise how affected you were.

That's awful op. What a shocking thing to witness. Hopefully, the victim is ok. My husband was glassed in his 20s, nothing he did just in the wrong pub at the wrong time. He has a scar that runs from just above the cheekbone all the way down to his chin. People often assume he's a thug because of it.

They rarely offer counselling to the actual victims of the crime, let alone just the witnesses!