An autistic man has been targeted and threatened with a knife in the heart of Swansea city centre. Nicholas Smale, 18, from Gendros, had been sitting on a wall near St Mary’s Church on Saturday afternoon at 2.50pm when he was approached by the man who gave him “a sob story.”
His mum, charity shop manager Samantha Smale, 54, said the man grabbed her son along with a knife out of his pockets. She was full of praise for two men who stepped in to help him.
Samantha said: “He’s 18 but he does not see danger. He had just been sitting there eating a pasty when this boy asked him to go around the church and said how short of money he was."
“The incident lasted 15 minutes. When he was by the taxi rank he turned nasty and grabbed hold of my son and went to grab for the knife out of his pockets. Further incidents of crime in Swansea can be read here or through with our newsletter.
“These two guys shouted ‘What the f*** are you doing?’ They belted across the road. It was so busy when it happened it was a lovely day and he was just sat on the wall.”
She added: “The man ran in the direction of the bridge.” Police have been alerted to the incident after the man targeted a number of families sitting in the area at the time.
Samantha said she realised something was wrong as he was quiet when he arrived home. “We rang the police and they checked his jacket for forensics as the bloke grabbed him,” she said.
“They are checking the CCTV cameras. I was sick to the stomach and he told him he had £10 on him.
“I think if he had spoken like that for longer my son would have given him the money. The man had gone onto an elderly gentleman with a child of five and a very young couple with a child in a pram.
“Then he caught my son’s eye and came over to him. They say ‘hi boy’ I know your mum and dad.
“When he went around the side of the church and how he lost his wife and couldn’t see his children and he had been fighting the night before. It’s quite frightening.”
South Wales Police was called just before 4.05pm on Saturday, April 2, following reports of a man having approached an 18-year-old man asking for money outside St Mary’s Church in Swansea city centre.
The man is described as being white, over 6ft tall and of stocky, but not big, build. He was wearing black and white Nike footwear, blue jeans with a black jacket and black beanie hat. He had a bandage on his left hand.
PC Katie Toulcher said: “The man didn’t harm the 18-year-old but his actions clearly alarmed him. We have made a number of enquiries to identify and locate the suspect, including house to house and CCTV enquiries.”
The force is appealing for anyone who was in the area of St Mary’s Church on Saturday afternoon between 2.45pm and 3.15pm, who has any information, to get in touch with us by one of these means quoting 2200108274.
