Acid attacks, murder & sleeping pregnant on a roundabout… dark lives of homeless in city where ‘prison is an upgrade’

HUDDLED in a dirty double bed nestled under a graffiti-strewn flyover, a homeless couple shelter to protect their unborn baby – an empty pram by their side.

The shocking scene in Cardiff sparked a national outcry earlier this month, with Ladislav Boldezersky, 56, and five-months pregnant Nada Venglarova, 43, placed in temporary accommodation soon after. 

However, the Czech pair are far from alone in their desperate struggles. In the historical city, there are 37 confirmed rough sleepers, while 858 people so far this year have been forced to contact the council to tell them they have become homeless.

For those who tragically find themselves on the streets, just getting through the day can be a living nightmare, braving arsonists, acid attacks and even murderers.

As one rough sleeper tells us: “Prison’s an upgrade compared to living like this.”

When 23-year-old Ben Badman asked permission to camp on the lawn of a homeless charity’s base he thought he was in a safe place.

Instead, he awoke screaming in the middle of the night to find his tent and even the clothes he was wearing on fire. By the time he leapt out of his tent, the cowardly arsonist had already fled into the darkness.

Ben said: “My mum passed away and I fell into a spiral of drug abuse, got involved with county lines and did time in prison.

“I’ve been in so many dangerous situations via homelessness, it’s not safe on the streets, you never know what could happen. It’s bad – it’s beyond bad.

“I had my tent set on fire while I was inside once. I’ve got no idea who did it or why, there was no one around by the time I got out. 

“I’ve had three knife attacks in Cardiff. Once a guy watched me getting a five-pound drop, which is when someone gives you £5 in a cup, and a guy walking past tried stabbing me for it. A teenager walking past saw my money and tried to rob me.

“I said ‘bro, you’re not getting my last fiver, you can do everything you want, you’re not getting it.’ He gave me a cut under my eye and that was it. It’s rife.”

Behind the stark statistics for homelessness lie a number of troubling and tragic stories, ranging from fleeing domestic abuse to leaving prison.

For many, the cost-of-living crisis has made it impossible to keep their homes due to soaring rents, mortgage arrears and the sudden loss of accommodation due to eviction notices being served.

While some 2,000 households are in temporary accommodation, a small number find themselves left with nowhere but the streets to sleep.

Ben tells us: “Getting robbed is a big danger, by other homeless or anyone. I’ve been robbed by a working guy. He kicked over my pot, and picked up all the change and said, ‘you’re not homeless, this is mine now’.

“I’ve had a couple of attempts of water being thrown on me, but you have to defend yourself against everything.

“I wake up every day and think, ‘Oh I’m alive’.

“It’s not that I want to be on the streets, but I’ve been out here so long I cannot now live in four walls that’s not a jail cell.”

Cycle of violence

Violence towards the rough sleepers is a regular occurrence, according those The Sun spoke to on a blustery day in the historical Cathedral city.

One woman, 39-year-old Victoria Leanne, shared her own tale of horror at the hands of a lowlife man in his forties.

“It’s really hard being on the streets,” she says. “I’ve been here 18 months, since my mother passed away from pancreatic cancer. We lived in Cornelly and after she died the council boarded up her house.

“I’ve been told I must be on the streets for two years before I can be classed as a Cardiff citizen and can stay in sheltered accommodation, like the homeless place The Hugget Centre, so I have six months left.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve seen people stabbed and even one murdered. Two people were rowing one day, and one stabbed the other in the neck. He died on the floor of the car park.

“I’ve had my hair ripped out and was dragged along the concrete on my face by this man, who was going around bullying the homeless people and trying to take money off them. 

“He was about 43 or 44 and he had a mask on. He came up behind me and pulled my hair and as I went forward, he dragged me onto my face on the concrete. It was about 15 minutes I was trying to fight him off on my own.

“I’ve seen people with ammonia in bottles, ready mixed, to throw over people so you have to be careful where you go. People in hostels sometimes do that. I know one gentleman had it thrown in his eyes and had to go to hospital.”

Ammonia is a corrosive and colourless gas with a suffocating odour which can cause burns and irritation to skin. It dissolves easily in water to form ammonium hydroxide and has been used in deliberate attacks by drug dealers in the UK.

Victoria added: “I sometimes get bullied because I’m not from around here, but I try to keep myself to myself.”

Jamie Wright was left in hospital for over a month after he was viciously assaulted when sleeping rough in the Rhondda Valley. 

Brutes who believed him to have stolen a laptop coaxed him into their car and drove to a secluded woodland before breaking both his legs and beating him all over with weapons. 

After leaving hospital Jamie, 47, moved to Cardiff.

“Two boys pretended to be friends; I knew one of them,” he says.

“They drove me into the forest and beat me with a pick-axe handle and a scaffolding tube, because they reckoned, I stole this laptop.

“I’ve been here since 2014 and continuously on the streets apart from when they’ve put me in a hostel. But the hostels down here fill up, within a matter of weeks, with people injecting and doing all sorts. 

“I’ve been homeless for 27 years. My mother passed away, my brother was murdered and then my father passed away. It’s not safe on the street here though.

“When you get people who are on their way home and they’ve been clubbing it can be dangerous. I know a couple of lads who’ve been stamped all over and were seriously assaulted just because they were lying in a doorway.

“What I don’t get is the council have all these empty buildings, and they just stay empty.”

‘Prison’s an upgrade’

As a young man, army veteran Jody Evans, 49, spent four years serving in the Queen’s Dragoon Guards.

Around ten years ago, he fell on hard times when his wife threw him out, and he was forced to leave his children.

During the first year he spent the summer season sleeping on the beach in Ibiza, where he picked up work.

He then flew to Bangkok, Thailand, funded by some inheritance his mother left him and picked up work job as an underwater videographer.

But four years ago, during Covid, his money ran out, and with no tourism trade to support his job in Thailand, he returned to Cardiff.

During the pandemic he took a job as an Amazon driver, but after an accident on the motorway he was charged with injury by dangerous driving and served 18 months in prison.

He tells our reporter he is suffering with trench foot.

He says: “I was attending the vets’ meetings in prison and thought there’d be plans put in place when I left prison, but there was nothing.

“Someone from the vets’ association found me after two weeks of sleeping on the streets and bought me a sleeping bag, but they didn’t come back.

“This is where I live now, this is where I sleep, and these belongings are all I have.

“The staff in the arcade don’t like me sleeping in their fire doorway, they waited for me to go to the toilet one day and binned all my stuff, I had nothing.

“A guy from across the road at Superdrug saw them do it and he was good enough to buy me a new sleeping bag.

“Prison’s an upgrade compared to living like this. At least you get three meals a day, a bed and four walls, you even get to play football a couple of times a week if you’re lucky. I’ll turn it around eventually though.”

Despite covering most of the city on foot, our reporter finds no sign of the tents that have become commonplace amongst rough sleepers seeking temporary shelter from the elements.

The council removes tents because, it said, they give the homeless a false sense of security and it wants to encourage them to use support services such as the Huggard Day Centre, the focal point of care for Cardiff’s homeless people.

Cardiff is also home to a charity called The Wallich. They go out every morning to check on the city’s homeless population. They are also campaigning the new Labour government to help end homelessness.

A council spokesperson said: “The council’s outreach team works daily, and into the night, with people who are sleeping rough in the city, checking on their welfare, offering accommodation and encouraging them to access services such as mental health, counselling or substance misuse support.

“We have made considerable in-roads in tackling rough sleeping in the city in recent years. 

“The number of people sleeping rough does fluctuate regularly and as of July 5, there were 39 people sleeping outside. Last week, our teams supported seven people off the streets, but unfortunately, five new individuals were identified sleeping rough so the outreach team’s work begins again, engaging with them to offer help.

“Due to complex needs, it can take time for some individuals to be ready to access a place to stay and engage with support but clearly it is far better and safer to come into accommodation with staff on site 24/7 and access to services that can help get a person’s life back on track, than to remain outside.”

Police Inspector Darren Grady said: “South Wales Police continues to work closely with Cardiff Council and the voluntary sector in supporting vulnerable people on our streets.

“While on patrol, police officers provide as much support as possible and always encourage homeless people to engage with support agencies and outreach services for further help.”