Man who stabbed himself in eye ‘blamed girlfriend’

A JILTED lover plunged a 10-inch kitchen knife into his own eye then claimed his girlfriend was to blame.

Livingston Sheriff Court. Picture: Contributed

Brian Barr told a court he wanted to “ruin” his then partner Lisa Beattie’s life because she admitted during a drunken row that she had cheated on him.

He said that he had told their next-door neighbour, paramedics and hospital nurses that she had stabbed him.

Giving evidence to a jury at Livingston Sheriff Court yesterday, he said: “I was embarrassed that I’d done it myself, but of course anybody would be.

“She’s told me she’s cheated on me and it’s really p****d me off. This is why I’ve blamed it on her, only I shouldn’t have.”

Admitting he lied, he explained the actual sequence of events: “We were shouting and swearing at each other and I said ‘Do you want me to f***ing stab myself?’ She sniggered and said ‘Go on then’, thinking obviously I wouldn’t do it.

“I’ve held my eye open and pushed it in right away, not thinking because I was drunk and that. Then I fell to the ground.”

Over the evening he drank a bottle of Buckfast, a bottle of cider, some Lambrini and vodka mixed with cider. Despite an eye operation to save his sight, he was blind in his left eye, he said.

Beattie, 26, of Huntly Avenue in Livingston, denied striking Mr Barr with a knife to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and permanent impairment on 18 January last year 2013.

Sheriff Susan Baird formally found Beattie not guilty and told her she was free to go.