A NEWPORT teenager suffered cracked ribs in an unprovoked attack as he walked through a park.

Rhys Birt, 19, was assaulted as he walked through Tredegar Park on his way to his girlfriend’s house in Rhiwderin at around 11pm on August 19.

He said: “I was walking by the old golf course at the back of the park when I heard someone shout and turned round. These boys started shouting abuse, asking who I was. I said I didn’t know them and they told me to stop being mouthy or they’d come down and drop me.”

Mr Birt said as he walked off he was punched to the back of the head and fell to the ground where the group repeatedly kicked him before running off.

He said he managed to get to his girlfriend’s house, where he phoned the police. Mr Birt was taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, where he was treated for cracked ribs and cuts and bruises.

Mr Birt said: “My T-shirt was ripped around the neck and my tracksuit bottoms were covered in mud and blood. I’m still limping a bit because of my ankle. I didn’t even see their faces.”

Police are appealing for anyone who was driving past Tredegar Park at around the time of the incident, or who may have seen Mr Birt, or the group of youths, to contact them on 101.