Family of young man with disability attacked in Portadown say they're living in fear

By Tara Griffiths

The family of a young man with learning difficulties who was attacked by a group of teenagers in Portadown last weekend say they are afraid and traumatised.

21-year-old Callum Crawford was left with a broken nose and cuts and bruises to his face in the attack on Saturday.

Police are treating it as a disability hate crime.

Callum's mother Sheila says she is devastated:

"Anybody that knows me knows that I'm very protective of Callum.

"The black eyes will disappear hopefully in two weeks time but the bigger thing is they've took something away, our peace of mind, or our comfort blanket or safety."

Callum and his family decided to release the images of his injuries in a bid to help find the perpetrators.

Sheila says she has received great support but will be reaching out for emotional help in future:

"This week has been the focus, people have been calling and bringing in presents and being by our side but on Monday he'll go back to tech and I suppose that's where the real journey for me and Callum begins, letting him back out into the world and letting him walk the streets.

"We spoke to our social worker... she's very keen that we don't allow anybody to take Callum's freedom from him.

"For me all six people took away something from us that day that we will have to work with victims support and social workers to try to manage."