A thug who blinded a woman by ramming a broom handle into her eye socket blamed the horrific attack on the pressures of lockdown.
Daniel Lawson repeatedly thrust the object into his victim during the “vicious and sustained” attack at a house in Mill Drive, Aberdeen, on November 15 2020.
The 40-year-old was today jailed for three and nine months at the High Court in Glasgow.
He had previously been convicted in Aberdeen of assaulting the woman to her severe injury as well as to her permanent disfigurement and impairment.
Lawson, of the city’s Derbeth Crescent, had claimed he was provoked that day.
His lawyer Michael Anderson told the hearing: “This offence was committed under the extreme circumstances that the country found itself in at the time due to the pandemic.
“Before this he had been in good employment – in the main, offshore work.
“He lost this as a consequence of the pandemic. As a result (those in the house) were on top of each other for a considerable period of time.
“Alcohol was taken and that was a pattern which emerged during the lockdown.
“He had a good life…until he was furloughed. He accepts prison is inevitable.”
Victim has ‘all but lost the sight in that eye’
Judge Alistair Watson also today banned Lawson from directly contacting the woman or going within 50 metres of her for the next five years.
He told him: “You attacked her in a fairly vicious and sustained manner using a broom pole as a weapon.
“This was described as you ‘ramming’ the pole into her eye.
“She has now all but lost the sight in that eye.
“You appeared to have lost control and it was an act of gross violence which has had consequences for the victim.”
The court heard the woman has already had a number of operations and may need further surgery.
The judge stated two children had witnessed the brutal attack and are likely to be “deeply affected” by what happened.
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