An allegation that a Polish man attacked his sister’s partner by gouging his eye, leaving him blind in that eye, has been found not proven by a jury at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.
Bogusz said that the pair had been drinking vodka all weekend while his sister was back in Poland with her son, and that she did the cooking in the flat.
He told the court that he helped pay part of the rent.
Mr Komendalowicz had claimed Bogusz “jumped” on him after he told him off for playing music and smoking in his bedroom on the night in question.
He said that the accused went for his eyes and he felt an “awful” pain in his right eye.
Mr Komendalowicz said that surgeons at Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline later told him he had “100% loss” of sight in his right eye.Burst eyeballDr Patrick Kearns, an eye surgeon at the hospital, had said that Mr Komendalowicz’s eyeball had been “burst.”
He said, “There is no possibility of him getting any useful sight from that eye at all.”
Yesterday, the jury took one and half hours to come to their not proven decision by a majority verdict.
However, they found him guilty of committing a breach of the peace by a majority verdict, for which he was fined £400.
Sheriff Ian Dunbar told him, “The jury have found you guilty of committing a breach of the peace by fighting.
“You have been acquitted on the more serious charge the consequences of which I can’t take into account on this separate charge.
“However, a man has lost his sight in one eye your sister’s partner and you will have to live with the knowledge that you had something to do with that.”
The trial concluded on Monday after hearing evidence, including from Rafal Bogusz (25), of Pumpherston Road, Livingston, who said that he had punched Konrad Komendalowicz in his right eye after claiming he fought back in self-defence in a flat in Rosyth.Bogusz had denied that on August 9 last year at an address in Gillway, Rosyth, he attacked Mr Komendalowicz and repeatedly punched him on the head and body, forcibly inserted his finger into his eye socket and pressed his finger against the eye to the emission of blood, all to Mr Komendalowicz’s severe injury, permanent disfigurement and permanent impairment.
He also denied that on the same date and address he committed a breach of the peace by conducting himself in a disorderly manner, shouting and swearing and fighting with Mr Komendalowicz, causing fear and alarm to others.
Polish-born Bogusz had lodged a special defence, claiming he acted in self-defence as he was attacked by Mr Komendalowicz.BloodThe court had heard how the accused had said that it was only after he punched Mr Komendalowicz (32) with a “clenched fist” that he saw blood coming from his right eye and called for help.
Bogusz had said that he had been asked to stay at the flat by his sister, Basia, and Mr Komendalowicz.
He told the court that he did not like Mr Komendalowicz but that the pair drank together on the weekend of the alleged incident.
He said that his sister’s partner “burst” into his bedroom after he had thrown his phone on the ground and started punching him while sitting on top of him.
Bogusz said, “He punched me and pulled one of my ears but I managed to punch him with a clenched fist.
“I saw blood coming out of his eye and pushed him off me and called for help.”