THE family of a critically-injured North-East man say their son was “living the dream” in Australia.

Daniel Moore suffered a fractured skull and internal bleeding.

He was found unconscious in the road in Sydney, in the early hours of Sunday.

The 21-year-old plasterer, from Marske, east Cleveland, has undergone surgery and been placed in a medically-induced coma.

His parents, Valerie Rutter and Robin Moore, who flew out with their partners earlier this week to be at his bedside, are desperate for witnesses to come forward.

Speaking to The Manly Daily, Mr Moore said both couples would stay in Australia “for as long as it takes”.

“We are here for him – time is irrelevant,”

he said.

Mrs Rutter said: “It’s every parent’s nightmare. It’s so awful to live that nightmare – there’s no way to describe it.”

Mr Moore thought he was receiving a call from his son on Sunday only to find out the caller was from Manly Police Station to say he had been seriously injured.

“They told me what they suspected and of the state of his head,”

said Mr Moore. “I was expecting him to look mangled, but he had no facial injuries below the bandage.

“He looked just like the boy I remembered when he left two years ago.”

His parents said Daniel had wanted to live in Australia since an early age.

Mr Moore added: “Daniel has been living and working in Australia for two years now and he has loved every moment of it.

“We are pleading for the taxi driver to come forward. He may well be the only person who can help us figure out what happened to Daniel.”

Inspector Luke Arthurs said the focus of the police investigation was the taxi driver who picked up Daniel and a friend in the city and drove them to Manly.

He said: “We are hoping the driver can shed some light on Daniel’s movements before he was injured, as at this stage, we have no witnesses who would be able to assist us in the investigation.”