'We were trying to wake him up and we couldn't' - Wife of man killed in Welshpool attack tells court

Margaret Mongan said she saw her husband who had gone back to the Best Kebab shop to get a drink, being hit by Slezak in the doorway.

Mrs Mongan was giving evidence at the trial of Martin Slezak, who is accused of murdering Young John Mongan, 49 from Walsall, in Welshpool town centre on Sunday, June 28 2026.

Slezak, 23, formerly of Stanley Street in Welshpool, denies murder.

The trial is taking place at Caernarfon Crown Court.

Mrs Mongan said: “My husband was coming out of the door of the Chippers (Kebab shop) and he fell backwards onto the pavement.

“We ran towards my husband and we were screaming and I turned. My sons were in another pub so I turned to go and get them.

“My husband was on the ground, my son ran past me and when I got to my husband the other person was not there, he had gone.

“We were trying to wake him up and we could not wake him up.

“I saw him hit my husband when he fell backwards and when he fell to the ground I am not clear, but I saw him kicking my husband in the head while he was knocked out.

“It was like someone on a football field kicking a football, he went with that much full force and my husband could not defend himself because he was knocked out on the ground. I saw him running and kicking him.”

Mrs Mongan said the couple had been married for 32 years and had 12 children aged from 16 to 31. She said she did not notice Slezak and his friend Lukasz Gzik in the pub and her husband had 'drunk a good few pints of lager' but she could not say exactly how many.

She said it was after visiting the few pubs that he went to the Chippers to get a kebab and returned later to get a drink. Shortly after that the attack happened.

Earlier the trial heard that the Mongan family had travelled to Welshpool from Walsall as their son, David, had asked Welshpool woman Winnie Stokes to marry him, and they had gone to introduce themselves to the Stokes family.

After visiting a couple of pubs, at 1.15am John Anthony Mongan, Mr Mongan's friend walked to Best Kebab and Mr Mongan followed later. Slezak and Gzik were already at the kebab shop.

The prosecution said there was an altercation in the shop after Mr Mongan dropped some food onto Gzik's leg and he complained his clothes were destroyed.

The altercation spilled onto the street where Mr David McLachlan for the prosecution said Mr Mongan was followed by Slezak as he backed out of the kebab shop's porch.

He said Mr Mongan was struck to the head, falls to the floor and that Slezak struck him "again and again and again with his fists".

"Young John Mongan was not putting up a fight," he says.

He said Mr Mongan did not break his fall and while he lay motionless on the floor on his back Slezak struck him to the head with force four or five times.

At 3.01am Mr Mongan was declared dead and Slezak was arrested at his home on Stanley Street at 6.31am.

The trial continues.