Woman blinded in one eye in attack is 'devastated'

A WOMAN blinded in one eye after being glassed by a customer in her bar says it has devastated her life.

Francine Shailer, 52, was speaking after a jury at Plymouth Crown Court unanimously convicted Scott Vanbeck of assault causing her grievous bodily harm with intent.

Mrs Shailer, from Lipson, was the owner of University Wines at Drake Circus and The Pit bar beneath when she was attacked by Vanbeck on October 2, 2008.

He smashed a pint glass into her face, causing shards of glass to fly into and through her eyeball like shrapnel.

Surgeons at the city's Royal Eye Infirmary removed four pieces of glass in a complex operation after she had suffered six weeks of agony, but were unable to save the sight in her left eye.

The jury had heard how her eyeball 'punctured like a flat tyre' in the attack.

Speaking outside the court after the verdict, Ms Shailer told The Herald: "This has ruined my life.

"I can't drive, I don't go out any more and I can no longer work as an artist, designing greetings cards.

"I'm in constant pain and will need ongoing operations," she added.

Ms Shailer said she wanted to thank the jury and all the friends and family who had supported her since the attack and through the trial. She recently sold the businesses and has retired, being looked after by her partner, Tim Cole.

Ms Shailer has to wear an eyepatch outdoors because light causes pain in her damaged eye.

Her daughter Nicola Farr, 32, said: "My mother is a beautiful woman in the prime of her life, but this has knocked her for six.

"It has destroyed her confidence; she no longer gets dressed up to go out.

"It has destroyed the essence of my mother.

"She's disappointed that there are people like Vanbeck out there who have that in them."

Vanbeck, aged 24, of Harwell Court in the city centre, had denied both assault causing grievous bodily harm with intent and an alternative charge of assault causing grievous bodily harm. He claimed it was an accident, but ran away, discarded his jacket because he feared police were looking for him and next day shaved his head and gave his bloodstained clothes to a friend.

When arrested, he told police he had been about to hand himself in after reading in The Herald about a police hunt for the attacker.

Following the verdict, prosecutor Emma Birt revealed that in June 2004, Vanbeck had been convicted of breaking his mother's wrist and damaging her car, while three years later he was convicted of possession of a class A drug, cocaine, and of breaching a community order.

Judge Miranda Robertshaw ordered a pre-sentence report from the Probation Service and remanded Vanbeck in custody, telling him to expect a 'significant' term of imprisonment when he was sentenced in early January.

She told him: "You have committed a very serious offence upon a wholly innocent member of the public who was hoping to have an enjoyable night out and doing her best to cope with your loutish behaviour.

"Little did she know that would result in you glassing her; she has lost the use of her eye for the rest of her life."