A MERTON student was hospitalised after being attacked by a Blues sportsman at last week’s Summer Eights regatta.
Ben Holroyd, a fourth year medical student at Merton, was treated for concussion at the John Radcliffe Hospital on Saturday after he was head butted in the face and punched in the jaw at Merton boat house. The attacker alleged that Holroyd had been threatening towards his girlfriend.
Holroyd said that he had not provoked the attack and that the accusations made against him were untrue. “He told me we needed to talk and then dragged me towards the darkened corridor next to the changing rooms. He told me that I had been threatening a girl who he had recently started dating” he said.
“He assured me that if I didn’t 'shut up', he would 'knock me out and throw me into the river'. The next thing I knew, he had head butted me square in the forehead. He threw a right hook at my jaw and I lost consciousness,” Holroyd added.
First aid officers were immediately called and accompanied Holroyd in a speedboat to the Head of the River pub, where he boarded an ambulance and was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital for treatment. The following day the incident was reported to the police, and Holroyd is currently considering the possibility of taking legal action against the attacker. “The whole thing was completely unprovoked and mad, so I’d like something done about it. I may well press charges,” he said.
Merton barman David Hedges witnessed the attack, saying he asked the aggressor to leave the College's premises following the incident. “As bar manager, I chucked him out of the boat house and he went quite quietly.”
Richard Stock, Oxford University Rowing Club’s Sabbatical Officer and one of Eights Week's main organisers, condemned the assault and said that incidents of violence were not typical of the regatta. “Obviously we don’t want this kind of thing to happen, but it was a pretty isolated event.”
Holroyd’s attacker was unavailable for comment.
Merton student hospitalised after assault
