A Royal Marine has told a court how he was partially blinded in one eye after an altercation in a Dundee pub.
Aaron Goldsbury said he was left in a pool of blood and now faces a cornea transplant following the incident in the city’s Balcony Bar.
He was on a night out with colleagues from RM Condor when he got into a scrape with pubgoer Liam Reilly.
After an exchange of words, Mr Goldsbury headbutted Mr Reilly.
Mr Goldsbury was then struck in the face by Mr Reilly’s flying pint glass.
A fellow marine said he saw Mr Goldsbury soaked in blood, with a shard of glass “sticking out of his eye”.
Mr Reilly went on trial at Perth Sheriff Court, denying allegations he assaulted the marine by throwing a glass at him inside the Ward Road venue in the early hours of March 6 2019.
The 27-year-old told jurors he let go of the glass when he was headbutted.
He accepted it hit Mr Goldsbury in the face but he insisted he did not throw it deliberately.
After a week-long trial, the jury found the case against him not proven.
Bloody aftermath
Mr Goldsbury, who was 25 at the time, told the trial he had been drinking with fellow Marines at RM Condor, near Arbroath, earlier that evening and the group went into Dundee later.
Asked about his recollections of the incident in the Balcony Bar, Mr Goldsbury said: “I remember an object coming towards us.
“Then I remember being in a pool of blood on the floor.”
Mr Goldsbury, who could not identify the man who attacked him, said he was left disfigured, with a scar across his forehead.
“I couldn’t see anything out of my right eye at the time,” he said.
“I still haven’t got my sight back really.”
He told the court he may need a cornea transplant.
Glass ‘wasn’t thrown’
Mr Reilly, of St Michaels Yard, told the jury he had a dispute with Mr Goldsbury over a female friend.
“He seemed quite intoxicated,” said Mr Reilly.
“We shook hands and that was that.”
Later, Mr Reilly met Mr Goldsbury again.
Mr Reilly said he was headbutted as he walked towards Mr Goldsbury with one arm raised, ready to give him a high five.
“I raised my hand to cover my face,” he said.
“I threw a kick to defend myself and then I got out of the pub.”
Asked by solicitor Jane Caird what happened to the glass he was holding, Mr Reilly said: “I thought I just dropped it but it must have hit Aaron.
“I didn’t throw it.”
Asked how he feels now about the incident, he replied: “Terrible.
“I want to apologise. I wouldn’t wish that upon any person.”
