Teenage machete attack victim Stefan Burgess is recovering well from his horrific injuries but is still too ill to return to work, according to his family.

A detective visited Mr. Burgess at his Devonshire home yesterday afternoon as part of the ongoing investigation into the slashing, which occurred the same night that 18-year-old Jason Lightbourne was shot dead in Paget.

Speaking publicly for the first time about the brutal attack, Mr. Burgess's grandmother Alfreda Samuels said he will be scarred for life after being hit in the head, face, arms, neck, chest and back.

He spent more than a week in hospital after being set upon at the rear of the family home in Devonshire in the early hours of July 23, and has only recently been well enough to talk to Police.

Ms Samuels said that while details remain sketchy, Mr. Burgess believes the spirits of both his twin brother Ryan ? killed in a motorcycle crash in February ? and best friend Travis Smith ? killed in a crash on July 6 ? came to his aid.

"They lifted him up," she said, explaining that Mr. Smith made it home and collapsed into the arms of his mother, Andrea Simmons.

Asked about speculation that Mr. Lightbourne was shot in retaliation for the attack on her grandson, Ms Samuels said she did not believe this to be the case as all Mr. Burgess's friends rallied to give support to the family after his injury.

"No-one was going anywhere to do anything ? and the time was so close for what happened to Stefan (to be linked)," she said.

Asked if she knew whether either twin had gang links, Ms Samuels said she could not swear to that because as their grandmother, they would be unlikely to tell her.

"They're good, kind-hearted kids, but they come from this area," she said. "The Police have been saying its gang-related but I think they would also think that because of the area people come from."

She said that neither of the twins ? former Berkeley Institute students who went into the construction trade ? ever expressed concerns for their safety, adding: "Neither Stefan nor Ryan ever carried weapons."

She said that their friends had offered great support to the family since both incidents, commenting: "They still come around. They are a nice bunch, and well mannered."

However, she said Stefan is unable to visit his other grandmother in Dockyard without being harassed by young people from that area.

Expressing concern about the gang culture in Bermuda, Ms Samuels issued an appeal for the Island's young men to stop the violence.

"I wish they would just talk to each other. Most of them are related to each other. I don't think they even know what they are angry about," she said. "If they could figure out what they are angry about, they could do something positive. It's so silly. They are cowards who always have someone with them."

She said Mr. Burgess was not yet prepared to speak publicly about his ordeal.

Police revealed last week that three arrests had been made in the Stefan Burgess case, and three in connection with Jason Lightbourne's murder. They refused to rule out links between the incidents.

A Police spokesman said yesterday that there were no new developments to report.