Shot newlywed back home for critical tests

Published on Saturday 2 August 2008 19:51

DOCTORS treating the newlywed who was shot in a suspected bungled robbery in Antigua, in which his wife was murdered, said yesterday that the man remained in a coma.

Benjamin Mullany arrived at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, in the early hours of yesterday after being flown home from the Caribbean island where the couple had been on their honeymoon.

Mullany, 31, is being treated in the same intensive care unit where his late wife Catherine did part of her training as a doctor. Once he has been stabilised, the medical team intends to progress to brain stem testing to determine the extent of brain damage.

Dr Pushpinder Mangat, the hospital's clinical director for critical care, said: "Ben remains critically ill. He has not required sedative drugs at any time over the last 24 hours, yet remains in a coma.

"If Ben remains in a coma once the stabilising measures that are dealing with blood chemistry and temperature are completed, it is likely we will proceed to brain stem testing."

Mullany, a physiotherapist, has a fractured skull and a bullet lodged in the back of his head after the attack on the couple at the Cocos Hotel on the Caribbean island last Sunday morning.

Catherine Mullany died instantly in the shooting on the last day of their honeymoon. Her body was flown back to the UK on Friday on a separate flight, accompanied by her parents.

Mullany, from Pontardawe, and his wife, from the village of Ystalyfera, set off on their two-week honeymoon after marrying at a church in the Swansea valley on July 12. It is uncertain whether Mullany knows that his wife is dead.

Yesterday, Scotland Yard confirmed it will send a team of detectives to the island to help investigate, following a desperate plea for help from Antigua's overwhelmed police force.

A spokeswoman said: "The team, which will include one officer from South Wales Police, will support the local senior investigating officers and have been sent following a request from the Antiguan authorities received through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office."

The shooting may be linked to another murder on the island less than two months ago. Antigua police commissioner Gary Nelson said the case is similar to another murder which happened in a house in the town of St John's.

Four people remain in custody and around a dozen officers are working on the case.

The island's 350-strong police force is faced with a rise in crime which has "nearly overwhelmed" the nation, according to its prime minister Baldwin Spencer.

He said it has no computers, no crime database and an emergency call system that "sometimes doesn't work".

Mullany's former fiance yesterday paid tribute to his bravery and said that as a former soldier and police officer, he had always tried to protect others.

Rebecca Gosling, 29, who lives with her new partner and their baby, said: "He put his life on the line for other people all through his career. I want his family to know that I will be teaching my son about modern-day heroes like him."