Soup still on diet for bash victim

CAMERON BURNELL

Upset: Brendan Hareb who was severly beaten in Eltham over a mailbox incident, is still waiting for new teeth.

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Almost four years after being beaten and left for dead, Brendan Hareb is still waiting for the day he can crack a proper smile.

Despite being approved for additional dental work, Mr Hareb says the Taranaki District Health Board has so far given him only a partial plate he says is uncomfortable.

However, the DHB says Mr Hareb has received the appropriate care covered by ACC and the additional work cannot be completed quickly.

"About a year ago, the Taranaki Base Hospital Dental Unit told me I would have new teeth put in before Christmas," Mr Hareb said.

"I am still waiting. Where are my teeth so I can eat properly?"

Mr Hareb's wife, Sarah, said remedial work had been done to prepare for implants to replace his top teeth but the couple had not heard from the Taranaki DHB for 12 months.

"I have to cut his food up quite small and he has a lot of soup and mince," she said.

"If it's too big he chokes but with a full set of teeth he would be able to eat fine."

However, the DHB says there is limited funding and a long approval process for dental services over and above those covered by ACC.

"Mr and Mrs Hareb were informed of the provisions surrounding Mr Hareb receiving the treatment and the limited funding," oral and maxillofacial surgeon Pete Liston said.

"This treatment is not generally funded within the public sector."

Dr Liston was unable to give an indication of when Mr Hareb's dental work would be completed.

Mr Hareb and his neighbour, Duncan Transom, were attacked when they confronted a group of drunken young men smashing letterboxes in Eltham in November, 2006.

Along with a fractured skull and major brain damage, the former freezing worker lost several teeth, an eye, his hearing in one ear, the use of an arm, damage to his legs and his short-term memory.

Jesse Christian Dolman, the unemployed 21-year-old who first knocked him out, then kicked and stomped on his head, causing grievous bodily harm, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

A jail term of seven years and eight months was given to Cheyne Reihana Turahui, who was 15 at the time of the attack, on charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, burglary, intentional damage and possession of an offensive weapon.

Lex Curtis Willemsen was sentenced to a year on home detention for causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Transom.

Victor Lawrence Tai pleaded guilty to assault was jailed for three months.

- © Fairfax NZ News