A promising fashion student has been left paralysed after a brutal stabbing in Hackney.
Oliver Hemsley, 21, woke from a coma this week to find that he had been left paralysed from the neck down by the attack.
Hemsley was stabbed eight times in the heart, lungs and neck by a gang of teenagers last summer while on a walk with his flatmate in Shoreditch.
He went into the coma soon after he was rushed to the Royal London Hospital and after months on a ventilator, doctors have now discovered the extent of his injuries.
He had accepted a place on the prestigious art course at Central St Martins College just before the random street attack on 28th August last year.
One of the gang, a boy who was aged just 15 at the time of the attack, pleaded guilty at London Crown Court yesterday to causing grievous bodily harm with intent but the court was adjourned after psychiatric reports suggested his “extremely low” IQ of 56 made him vulnerable to coercion.
The court was told by Prosecutor Catherine Milson that no other charges would be made over the attack due to lack of evidence.
Outside court, his brother Will Hemsley spoke of the pain his family are still living with: “Oli was not a member of a gang, he was just a normal person walking down the street and had his life taken away from him. His friend was pushed to one side and he was stabbed from behind. It was completely at random and unprovoked.
It is inspirational the way he has dealt with this whole thing. “
