A 25-year-old who died in hospital 11 months after sustaining traumatic injuries may have been assaulted, a court has heard. 

Tomas Pontezis, who moved to Great Yarmouth from Lithuania to escape homophobia, was admitted to hospital on January 4. 

Area coroner Samantha Goward opened the inquest into his death this week. 

She said: “On January 4, Mr Pontezis went into cardiac arrest following traumatic injuries. 

“These were initially believed to have been sustained during an assault. 

“The following day, he was admitted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge with hypoxic brain injury, before being transferred to the James Paget Hospital on January 18.” 

Over the next two months, Mr Pontezis was cared for at the Colman Hospital at Priscilla Bacon Lodge, Norwich. 

During this time, he was also admitted to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital (N&N) on one occasion for aspiration pneumonia and an infection. 

Eastern Daily Press: Tomas Pontezis was aged 25 when he died

On March 22, he returned to the N&N where his condition deteriorated. He was eventually given end-of-life care there and died there on November 16. 

The inquest into his death opened at Norfolk Coroner’s Court at County Hall in Norwich, where the medical cause of his death was given as aspiration pneumonia due to, or because of, a hypoxic brain injury. 

A full inquest to determine the official cause of death will take place next year on June 10 at the court. 

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Tomas Pontezis was born in Lithuania on April 30, 1998, but moved to the UK to escape homophobia and search for a better life.  

The factory operative had lived in Great Yarmouth with his fiancé Stephen Button until an incident in January left him with serious brain damage. 

Mr Button is now fundraising to give his fiancé "the final goodbye that he deserves". 

The GoFundMe page currently sits at £170 of its £4,000 target.