The heartbroken sister of a man who died after being kicked in the head by a killer angered at drug-taking said their family has been left “drowning in pain”.
Tonia McNulty described how they felt at Nigel Mazs being “ripped” from them following the brutality of his death.
Martin Montgomery, 32, was this week sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 12 years.
He was found guilty of the 59-year-old's murder after a trial at Norwich Crown Court.
It heard how Montgomery came out of a flat in Malakoff Close, Great Yarmouth, at just after 11am on December 22 last year.
He had been angered by Mr Mazs and two of his friends taking drugs in the stairwell.
Montgomery began shouting and swearing and told the group there were "f*****g kids here" before booting Mr Mazs in the head as he bent down to pick something up.
The blow caused him to fall backwards onto concrete.
With the help of others, Mr Mazs was able to reach Regent Road in the town where the emergency services were called. He later died in hospital on January 4 - almost two weeks later.
READ MORE: Man guilty of murder following row over drug-taking outside his flat
READ MORE: Yarmouth murder victim 'died after being kicked in the face'
Following Montgomery's sentence, a moving victim impact statement from Mr Mazs' sister – which was read out on behalf of the family at Tuesday's hearing – has been shared in full with this paper.
It reads: "Nigel was a man of many roles: he was a grandad, a dad, an uncle, a big brother and a son and he did them all as best he was able to.
"Nigel always tried as hard as he could and did everything to the max.
"He had a cheeky sense of humour, even when he was faced with hardships and challenges, and had a sweet boyish grin which always got him out of trouble.
"Nigel adored his family but always felt that he had let us down. It was actually the opposite, and he saved us all in so many ways over the years. He never knew this as he struggled to receive compliments.
"Nigel was not aggressive in his nature; he would cry rather than lash out and hated to cause others pain.
"I know other people might perceive him as just another homeless person or addict, but he didn't have ‘street dweller’ or ‘addict’ as his career goals when he was young.
"Sadly, life took him that way.
"To him, substances were a way to escape his memories of the abuse he suffered at the hands of our parents and his escape from the pain and sadness that life had dealt him.
"All of our family has loved and cared for him in every way that we could, and we are so grateful to him for looking after us and protecting us from our parents.
"We missed him if we didn't see him and thought of him every time there was bad weather.
"We all tried to help him in our own way over the years.
"Apart from our grief and sadness that he is gone, we are each drowning in the pain caused by the violence and brutality that caused his death.
"He didn't slip away peacefully in a hospice or quietly on his own terms, he was ripped from us because somebody saw him as just another drug user.
"You took our Nigel away from us and caused his last conscious moments to be pain and sadness, and you also took away the hope that one day he would be able to recover from his addictions and live a beautiful life free from his pain.
"We will always keep an eye on the weather and wonder if he is inside because our love for him will never stop.
"Our lives will never be the same, all of our Christmases will forever be a stark reminder that we spent those weeks in Addenbrookes praying for his life, holding his hands and talking to him in the slight hope that he could hear us.
"At times sleeping on the floor so that we could be there in case he had a moment of consciousness in order tell him how much he was loved and not wanting him to spend a moment alone. At the end, staying with him knowing that his life support was gone, watching each unsteady breath counting down as his moments ran out, one by one."
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