THE traumatised victim of a random assault has described how his attackers "thought it was all a game."

Steven Brooks-Dowsett attended Ipswich Crown Court to look his attacker in the eye after he was assaulted in Colchester town centre.

The attack, carried out in January last year, was carried out by Linas Marcinkevicius and a group of his "thuggish" friends.

Read more: Drunken thug 'thought it was funny' to beat-up stranger

Mr Brooks-Dowsett suffered a broken ankle, multiple contusions and a concussion.

In a victim impact statement read aloud in court, Mr Brooks-Dowsett said the attack had permanently changed his life.

He told the court he had undergone a course of physiotherapy to recover from his physical injuries, which had impacted upon his work on large construction sites.

On a psychological level, he said he had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder after the attack, which had left “a feeling of helplessness.”

He said a period of counselling had helped, “but only so much.”

“My anger and stress turned to anger, I found I became short-tempered with my wife," he said.

“I had never been like this before.”

He said: “It is not lost on me that I’m probably as much a faceless entity to those who assaulted me as they are to me.

“They are the unseen persons who come at me as I try to rest.

“The panic attacks come when my guard is down.”

He added: “I know they have shown no remorse, no care for what they did.

“They assaulted me for nothing more than their own amusement.

“This was all a game to them.”

The court heard on a separate occasion, in March last year, Marcinkevicius was again acting as part of a group accosting passers-by in Colchester town centre.

He participated in a “random, drunken, group attack,” which saw a man struck with a bottle and punched in the face.

He was chased through the town, with the attack reaching an end when door staff intervened.

Marcinkevicius, of Winnock Road, Colchester, admitted causing grievous bodily harm and affray.

Judge Rupert Overbury sentenced Marcinkevicius to three years and three months in a young offender’s institution.

For news updates straight to your inbox, sign up to our court and crime newsletter here.

For the latest on crime and court, visit our dedicated Facebook page here.