Man suffers horrifying injuries to face after machete attack that sparked 48-hour armed siege
A 57-year-old man has suffered terrible injuries after a man with a machete struck him on the face and then fled to the roof of an abandoned building. Subsequently, a 48-hour siege ensued at the scene with the man refusing to come down and the police stuck in a stand-off.
Nigel Davies was left with severe wounds to the face after he was attacked by the unknown assailant brandishing a machete on a street in Tredegar, south Wales. The man attacked Davies and jumped onto the roof on June 5.
The suspect is said to have initially driven a car into a house and onto a pavement. The car almost hit a woman and her child who were standing nearby. The man with the machete then ran into an empty British Legion building at an industrial estate that was close by.
The man clambered onto the roof of the nearest building and then stayed there for 48 hours. The armed police officers who had responded to the scene kept trying to get him to come down but he refused to.
Finally, at 7 am on June 8, the police officers at the scene were able to convince the man to come down from the roof of the building. They then arrested him at the scene.
One deputy was captured on camera reaching up and handing the man a Chinese takeaway along with a packet of cigarettes in order to coax him to come down. The trick seemed to have worked because the man eventually came down.
A large crowd had gathered around the perimeter by the time the whole incident drew to a close. Around 25 police officers and members of the fire brigade along with the paramedics all had to work hard to contain the situation.
One eyewitness who witnessed the entire siege told the Daily Mail on Friday: "The police are saying there is no danger to the public. But you can see from the picture that the victim was viciously assaulted with a weapon."
Images of Davies' machete injuries went viral on social media by June 7.
The Gwent Police confirmed that armed police officers were deployed to the area after reports came in of a man who was armed with a machete. The reports said that he was hiding inside the Grade II-listed building on June 5. The building has been used as the Tredegar Iron Company worker's shop at one point.
The armed police officers had to use riot shields to protect themselves from the large chunks of masonry that the machete-wielding man had started throwing at them. Davies is believed to have been attacked by the man after he rammed the car he was driving into a house after going over a pavement. The incident took place around 8:45 am on June 5. The man almost ran over a woman and her young child who were walking on the pavement before he hit the house.
A spokesperson for the Gwent police said in a statement: "The situation is linked to several incidents in the area. The first report came to us as a road traffic collision at 8.45 am on Tuesday morning."
It is believed that the man drove the car into a house and then got onto a pavement dangerously close to where the woman was walking with her young child. The man then attacked Davies with a machete before running into the derelict building.
Witnesses who saw the entire thing said that the police officers had reached the location with bolt cutters so that they could get through the security fence that the man had scaled. They decided, instead, to back off and let the crazed machete wielding man time to calm down.
Another eyewitness at the scene said: "The police have been hesitant about going in because of the state of the building. It is quite tense here and all the emergency services are standing by."
A spokesperson for the Gwent police said that the man was arrested by armed officers at 7 am on June 8 morning after a 48-hour siege. The man is said to be cooperating with the authorities with regard to the inquiries. He has not been officially charged for the crime as of now.