John Donnelly, 75, wants to leave home after attack
A 75-year-old man who was assaulted by teenage hijackers outside his house in Londonderry is considering leaving the home where he has lived for 40 years.
John Donnelly was kicked and punched by the gang who pulled him out of his car in the Carnhill area shortly after 01:15 GMT on Thursday.
He received cuts and bruising to his face before three youths stole his car.
The pensioner's son, Séan Donnelly, said his father has been left "badly shaken up" and wanted to move out.
"He was woken up with the sound of a car horn", Séan Donnelly told BBC Radio Foyle.
"He knew by the sound of the horn it was his car. He got up, looked out the window and couldn't see anybody. He waited ten minutes and he went out to check on the car."
Mr Donnelly said his father walked over to his blue Toyota and got in to make sure everything was ok.
"He was about to get out of the car when somebody booted him in the face, pulled him out of the car, punched and kicked him in the head," the son added.
"The hit him to the ground and they were away with the car."
Mr Donnolly said his father had been left with cuts to his face which he believes were made by the buckles on the boots of the attackers.
"His face was all cut down the left side. His lips were four or five times the size they were supposed to be."
The son said the pensioner had told him that his eye and one side of his face had started to turn black with bruising by Friday morning.
"He's still badly shaken up," he added. "A man of that age doesn't need it."
The car was driven to Benview Estate in Coshquin, County Londonderry, where it was later found abandoned.
Mr Donnelly said the thieves then vandalised the car because they had "burnt the clutch out of it" and could not drive it any further.
"People down at Coshquin saw them jumping out of the car, bouncing on the bonnet, smashing the windscreen and then pulling a knife out of their pocket and stabbing the four tires."
He said his father, who is a retired bus driver, now wanted to leave the estate where he had raised his family.