'Hero' says instinct made him stop car driving into pub crowd

Andrew Niinemae in hospital before and after treatment on his injured leg

A father-of-three hailed a "hero" for stopping a car driving into a crowd of people outside a pub says he just "acted on instinct".

Andrew Niinemae intervened when a car was driven towards people outside a pub in Cardiff at the end of June.

Witnesses said the 34-year-old "saved lives" by smashing the car's window and attempting to pull the handbrake.

No-one has yet been charged in what South Wales Police described as a "shocking incident".

Mr Niinemae suffered a deep gash to his left leg as well as ligament and muscle damage to his arms and legs.

The telecommunications engineer has been unable to work since the incident but is hoping to begin a phased return to his job in September.

The incident happened at the height of this summer's heatwave outside The Royal Oak on the main road through Whitchurch

Mr Niinemae said he broke up a fight between two men he did not know in the pub in the Whitchurch area of Cardiff at about 12:30 BST on June 30.

He added soon after, the dark-coloured car picked up one of the men and then drove at people on the pavement outside the Royal Oak pub on Merthyr Road.

The police said the car collided with a parked taxi and left "a trail of debris behind, before leaving the scene at speed."

"I smashed my way through the driver's side window," Mr Niinemae said.

"I tried to drag the driver out the car but he had his seat belt on.

"So then I dived inside the car, went to go for the handbrake and obviously I couldn't get to the handbrake.

"He put it into reverse and just floored it.

"The car, from what it felt like in the car, span around and he hit, from what I heard, a cab, which caught my legs in between the cab and his car.

Andrew Niinemae has been unable to work since the incident in June

"And then he drove off and he must have hit the car again, or something, and I fell out, and I stumbled over to the bus stop, and that's when I noticed all my leg was in tatters."

Asked if he agrees with witnesses who say he was a "hero," Mr Niinemae said: "It was just an instinct to even attempt to do what I did.

"It wasn't like I thought 'I'll go and be a hero'."

Police arrested a man from Ely in Cardiff at London Gatwick Airport in July but has not been charged and has been released "under investigation."

No other arrests have been made in connection with the inquiry and earlier this month police appealed again for witnesses or "people with information" to come forward.