Witness claims defendant twisted bottle into his eye

A man has told a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury that another man twisted a broken bottle into his one good eye, leaving him totally blind.

"I could see him looking up at the ceiling as he twisted the bottle. That was the last thing I saw. I could feel my sight going," John Delaney, aged 44, told prosecuting counsel, Mr Anthony Hunt BL, on day-two of the trial.

He said he had lost sight in his left eye 21 years ago in a road traffic accident.

He also told the jury he had told the accused about the accident and the status of his eye when he had first met him a few weeks previously.

Brigid Davis, aged 43, of no fixed abode and formerly of Alfie Byrne House, Dublin 1, and John Paul Doyle, aged 39, of Ashwood, Hebron Road, Kilkenny, deny five charges arising out of a serious assault on John Delaney on June 28, 2002.

They have pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to Mr Delaney, recklessly and intentionally causing him harm, and to recklessly and intentionally engaging in conduct which created a substantial risk of serious harm to him at St Mary’s Terrace, Dorset Street, Dublin 1.

Mr Delaney said he had been sitting at home reading a newspaper when he saw Ms Davis standing in the hallway of his flat.

It was easy to get access into his flat because the glass on the front door had been broken and the board replacing it did not entirely cover the gap left by the missing glass.

He then saw Mr Doyle and another man in the flat as well and he observed that Mr Doyle held a broken bottle in his hand.

Wearing dark glasses and carrying a cane, Mr Delaney stood up to demonstrate to the jury how he saw Mr Doyle half-concealing the bottle behind his jacket.

He said he heard Ms Davis saying: "He’s at home. He’s on his own," before Mr Doyle grabbed him by the head and twisted the bottle into his eye.

"I felt it sting very badly," he told Mr Hunt. After the attack, he said, he was on the floor of his flat for the better part of an hour.

When the three people left the flat he was in "an awful state" and "was panicking" when the woman he lived with returned and rang an ambulance.

He said he knew Mr Doyle from him having dated his cousin a long time ago, and said he had met him a few times in Phibsboro before the incident happened.

He denied in cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr Ciaran O’Loughlin SC, that he was a violent man who drank a lot.

He said he had "packed the drink in" a long time ago. He denied he drank Vodka but couldn’t explain a broken bottle of Vodka found in his flat that had blood on it.

He also denied that he had rows with the woman he was living with at the time. "We didn’t even have an argument," he told Mr O’Loughlin, for Mr Doyle.

Mr Delaney agreed in further cross-examination by Mr O’Loughlin that he had been given a five year sentence for manslaughter in 1991 and a six year sentence for demanding money with menace in 1999.

The trial continues before Judge Joseph Matthews.