A prisoner avoided losing an eye by just millimetres after being assaulted during a prison brawl.
Paul McCann rammed a pen into the eye socket of David Ditchburn during the fight, leaving his victim needing surgery.
At Perth Sheriff Court on Thursday, McCann pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Ditchburn in an open area of the city’s prison to his severe injury on January 18.
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood heard that McCann had been writing in his cell on the fourth floor of A block when an argument broke out between Ditchburn and a group of other prisoners on the floor below.
McCann ran past guards with the intention of hitting Ditchburn and “in the heat of the moment” forgot he was holding the pen.
It lodged between Ditchburn’s lower eye lid and his eye socket, and had to be surgically removed.
Doctors estimate that had the pen entered the eye just 5mm higher, he would have lost his sight.
Depute fiscal John Malpass said McCann, who is in custody at Barlinnie prison, had been serving a sentence for a crime of dishonesty at the time of the incident.
He said: “At 10.40 hours on January 18, prison staff were supervising prisoners in the open area of the prison.
“The complainer was in a group of around 18 prisoners. The complainer had issues with several members of the group and this had been simmering for some time and at this stage boiled over into a fight.
“The accused ran and swung his hand at the complainer, striking him in the face. Prison officers intervened.
“When they removed the complainer, they observed he had an item sticking out of his face below his left eye, which appeared to be a plastic pen.”
The injury has left no lasting damage, the court heard.
Solicitor Roderick Roberts, defending, said his client was “oblivious” to the fact he was holding the pen when he landed a punch.
Sheriff Fleetwood sentenced McCann to serve two years in prison.