Teenager blinded after man threw TV remote at her face during party
He has now been jailed for 20 months.
A man has been jailed for blinding a teenage girl in one eye after he threw a remote at her during a drunken sleepover.
Tyler Basnett, 29, had asked Natasha Robinson, 18, to pass him the device during a party at her uncle’s house. She had then thrown it ‘like a frisbee’ and it had accidentally bounced off his knee and hit him in the mouth, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
Thinking she had injured him deliberately, he then forcefully threw the remote back at her, causing it to hit her in the face and leave her with a blackened right eye and 2cm cut to her eyelid.
The eye then went bloodshot, but after a friend gave her assistance Ms Robinson went to bed, only to find her vision blurred the next morning. She then sought medical attention and was later told a blood clot had formed at the back of her eye, which would permanently effect on her vision.
Describing the incident on January 6 last year, prosecutor Tom Heath said Ms Robinson and Basnett had been gathered with friends at the party, with each of them drinking around five or six cans of cider.
He said: ‘The defendant was very animated throughout the evening and at 4am the victim was sat in the living room at the end of the sofa watching TV. The remote control was next to her and he asked her to “chuck the remote”.
‘She did so as one might throw a frisbee but the device struck the defendant on his knee and the top of his lip. He said in response “what the f**k are you being serious?”
‘The defendant believed he had been hit deliberately and hit her back with it. She felt sharp pain in her right eye and blood was dripping from her cheek.
‘She was taken into the kitchen for assistance, and he followed, responding “it’s her fault, she hit me first”. The victim’s friend applied antiseptic to the injury and he left the property 15 to 20 minutes later.’
Ms Robinson required two injections after fluid and a blood clot were found at the rear of her eye. Medics at Manchester Eye Hospital confirmed the injury would have a permanent effect on her vision on January 18.
Mr Heath said Basnett had claimed he was acting in self-defence when questioned by the police. The court heard he had previous convictions including battery.
James Preece, defending, said Ms Robinson’s injuries were not from a ‘sustained or repeated assault’. He continued: ‘The defendant believed he was deliberately hit by the complainant and says he hit the complainant in a brief period of retaliation.
‘There was a lack of premeditation and this was a brief assault involving a single blow from the defendant which very sadly caused serious injury.’
He also said Basnett had been suffering from depression partly due to the proceedings against him and also because his father passed away in October 2019 after battling MS for many years.
The court also heard he had a son, six, who spends more time with Basnett than his mother. Mr Preece said: ‘To remove his son from his dad would hurt them both so much as his son loves the time he spends with his dad.’
Judge John Potter sentenced Basnett to 20 months behind bars, after he admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm at a earlier hearing.
The judge told him: ‘You threw the remote back at her deliberately. Perhaps your judgement was impaired by alcohol but you lost her temper and decided to retaliate.
‘This behaviour was completely inappropriate, disproportionate, harmful and unlawful. You used the remote as a weapon and caused serious injury to her eye. That was a cowardly act towards a young woman and there was no possible justification for it.
‘She will always have a scar on her eyelid which she is self conscious about, and she is vulnerable to cataracts in her eye earlier than others. This offence was so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence can be justified.’
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