The wife of a Taranaki man left with brain damage after a vicious attack says Inland Revenue continued to demand child support payments from him as he lay in a coma.Brendan Hareb and his neighbour, Duncan Transom, were beaten after they confronted a group of young people smashing letterboxes in Eltham in 2006.

Along with a fractured skull and brain damage, Mr Hareb lost an eye, his hearing in one ear, the use of an arm and his short-term memory.Yesterday, Mr Hareb’s wife, Sarah, said Inland Revenue continued to charge her husband child support and late payment penalties as he lay unconscious in hospital.

“I was fighting it while he was unconscious but there was no compassion from them,” she said. “They told me he still had to pay. It was up to his ex-partner to decide if she didn’t want to apply for it.”Mrs Hareb, who contacted the Taranaki Daily News after reading of another couple’s wrangle with red tape yesterday, said repeated calls to Inland Revenue to plead her unconscious husband’s case all had the same result.

“They didn’t want to listen.