Two arrests following assault

Detectives investigating the violent assault of 39-year-old Eddy Nganji in Lewisham have made two arrests.

A 20-year-old man and a 19-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) after separately handing themselves in to a south London police station yesterday evening. Both men remain in custody.

Police launched an investigation after Nganji was attacked in Bestwood Street, Lewisham in the early hours of Tuesday, 8 August.

At approximately 02:30hrs that morning, Eddy was outside a late night grocery store in Lower Road near the junction with Bestwood Street when he was approached by two suspects who had arrived at the location in a blue Ford Focus car.

One of the suspects, a black male, appeared to turn aggressive towards Eddy, for reasons unknown to the police. The shop assistant of the store then intervened to prevent Eddy being attacked. As Eddy walked away across the street towards McDonalds in a bid to avoid any confrontation, the suspect struck him once on the head from behind with an unknown object, causing Eddy to fall to the ground unconscious. Seconds later the attacker ran towards the blue car he arrived in and threw an item into it. He then fled the scene on foot along Bestwood Street in the direction of Trundleys Terrace.

A number of members of the public came to Eddy's assistance as he lay on the ground. The other suspect then appeared to join them and even attempt to give first aid to the victim. However, he then jumped back into his car and drove off away from the scene down Bestwood Street.

Detective Constable Alex Hamilton, from Lewisham CID, who is leading the investigation said: "Eddy's whole family has been left distraught by this vicious, unprovoked attack, for which any reason or motive is unclear.

"Eddy worked for Woking Council before the assault - but his physical injuries are so severe that his doctors cannot say at this point if he will ever recover enough to work in the future or lead any kind of normal life."

Eddy's brother, Donny Mpundu, 35, agreed to the release of Eddy's name and image to help encourage witnesses and those with information to come forward.

They have also released photos of Eddy before and after the assault. Donny explained that Eddy had enjoyed attending an intimate family gathering on the evening before the attack.

Donny said: "For us, the assault on Eddy was a tragic and unfortunate event. We could not believe someone would ever want to hurt Eddy. As Eddy is the rock of the family, we feel like a huge gap in our respective lives, as if we have lost track in our every day... together as Eddy's family has been affected by what happened to our lovely brother we deeply love.

"Eddy is the kindest, thoughtful and most selfless man you could ever meet. He is gentle and very compassionate, it's the norm for him to put others first, nothing is too much for him. The number of the people who come to visit him can testify how many souls he has touched.

"Since Eddy's incident, we haven't been going to our daily jobs and in addition to that, it includes sleepless nights, stressed morally, emotionally and physically. Our lives have been turned upside down, trying to make sense of how and why it happened.

"We feel helpless sitting at Eddy's bedside just waiting for any little improvement, for any positive information from doctors and praying for miracles. It's a real emotional roller-coaster not knowing what the future holds.

"Please, please we appeal to you, if anyone knows anything about what happened to our beloved brother, father and uncle Eddy, even if it's something you may think is small, just please get in contact with the police".

Shortly after the incident last month, a 42-year-old man and a 27-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm but have since been released under investigation.

Anyone with information should call Lewisham CID via 101 or contact @MetCC via Twitter. To give information anonymously call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit crimestoppers-uk.org.