A TALENTED athlete and rugby player put his mother’s boyfriend in intensive care after a brutal assault.

Oliver Thomas flattened Mark Smith’s nose, knocked out four of his front teeth, split his palate open and left him with a fractured jaw and eye sockets.

It took the victim six days to wake up from the vicious attack which saw him undergo surgery with titanium plates inserted into his forehead, cheek and jaw.

He punched Mr Smith to the floor before kicking him on the floor outside their home in Newport.

There was “bad blood” between them and Cardiff Crown Court heard how Thomas was furious because the victim was “giving his mother cocaine”.

Judge Jeremy Jenkins said of the defendant that it was “a tragedy to see a very promising young man blight his life”.

A scholarship offered to him in the USA had been withdrawn because of his conviction.

Thomas’ barrister Kevin Seal told of how Wales rugby internationals, not named in court, had written references in support of him.

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The defendant was aged 19 when he assaulted Mr Smith on May 28, 2021 on their drive after he’d driven to a local shop to buy alcohol.

The victim was having a get-together at his house with Thomas’ mother and other people.

David Pinnell, prosecuting, said: “The defendant approached him and punched him full force in the face causing him to go to the floor. He then sent a kick to the face.

“Mr Smith has no further recollection other than some hazy memory of being assisted by a neighbour and then waking up at the University Hospital Wales in Cardiff.”

Reading the victim’s personal statement, Mr Pinnell told the court: “He says that he has not recovered the full sight of his left eye and has sensitivity to light and has to wear sunglasses.

“Mr Smith mentions losing some sensation on the lefthand side of his face and the loss of some sensation to taste and smell.

“He talks about the relationship with the defendant's mother coming to an end.”

Thomas, 21, formerly of Cardiff Road, Newport pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.

Mr Seal said in mitigation that his client is a promising athlete and rugby player.

He told the court: “He has been a promising athlete since a very early age.

“There's a scholarship that he was able to obtain in America which has now been withdrawn due to this conviction and his present sentence.

“And certainly another alternative, Australia, disappears as he goes through the prison gates.”

Judge Jenkins said to Mr Seal: “This is a tragedy.

“This is a very promising young man, with his life ahead of him, who has completely blighted it, certainly for the immediate future.”

The judge told Thomas: “There was bad blood between you and Mr Smith.

“But whatever justification you may have thought you had for exacting any form of revenge on him for the perceived hurt that he had caused your mother, nothing by way of what you did could come close to justifying the injuries and the long term effect of what you have done.”

He added: “You are a fit, powerfully built young man and in the circumstances it probably wouldn't have taken a great deal to floor Mr Smith.

“That single punch was one from which he was not to recover.”

Thomas was jailed for five years.