A NEWPORT man said he feared for his life after being attacked in the middle of the night by his stepson.

John Castagna, 61, required six stitches following the attack at his home in Maindee on October 26.

Darren Wassall, 39, of Caerau Road, pleaded guilty to the assault and to damaging one of the victim’s windows. He admitted unlawful wounding and criminal damage at Newport Crown Court on Thursday.

Mr Castagna, who divorced Wassall’s mother in the late 90s but has since re-married, said: “I thought I was a goner. I was in bed and had gone into a deep sleep as I often do. The missus wakes me up when she hears a glass smashing, so I put on my dressing gown.

“He had broken the window downstairs and came to my bedroom in the middle of the night – I didn’t have a sporting chance. He attacked me, but I managed to push him to the hallway and put all my weight on him, but he was headbutting and punching me. My wife was frozen but I told her to run – I thought I was going to die. Somehow I went downstairs after my wife to see if she was okay but he chased after me, I was half-naked at this point, and he kicked me to the floor.”

Wassall fled after a neighbour came to the door, and the police arrived soon after.

Mr Castagna said there had been no animosity between the pair when they last met and does not understand why his stepson had attacked him.

“I knew he was violent but he’s never done anything like this to me before,” Mr Castagna added. “I have pictures of him when he was a kid, and of days out when we went to the Transporter Bridge. I fed him, brought him up and treated him as my own son and then he goes andattacks me for no reason at all.

“I’m 61 and had an operation on my knee only 18 months ago – I’m not a fighter. He was fully aware of what he was doing, he wasn’t drunk. I’m still in shock and my wife can’t stop crying – she’s traumatised.”

In Newport Crown Ccourt on Thursday, Judge Daniel Williams called the incident “a serious case” and ordered that a pre-sentence report be written. which will help determine how long Wassall is jailed for.

Wassall will be Wassall was remanded in custody until his sentencing on November 25. “I hope he gets a long time for what he did to me,” Mr Castagna said.