A teenager took a man’s eye out with a slingshot outside a McDonald’s restaurant. The victim had told him to stop shooting it at seagulls before he was struck in the eye.
James Bower, 19, has been sentenced to two years in a Young Offenders Institute following the incident in November 2024. He was seen pulling up at the fast food chain in Morecambe Road, Morecambe, before winding down the window of the white van he was driving. The victim, 33, was outside the restaurant and spotted Bower shooting at birds with a slingshot.
As reported by Lancashire Live, the man said: “How would you like it if I did that to you?” The pair then got into an argument, with Bower claiming the seagulls would steal his food.
The victim then stood on a table but the teenager continued to fire ball bearings from the slingshot. Preston Crown Court heard how one smashed the window of the McDonald’s while another struck the man in the eye.
The incident was captured by mobile phone footage and showed Bower laughing. It caused the man to lose sight in his eye and he is now set to have surgery to remove it.
Bower pleaded guilty to section 20 wounding, possession of an offensive weapon and criminal damage to the window. In mitigation, he said he took offence at comments made by the man about his Traveller heritage.
The court also heard how the teenager had an unstable background and no real education. He did not anticipate the consequences of his actions when he fired the slingshot.
Sentencing, Recorder Emma Fisher said: “It might be a one-off and it might be an abhorration but you deliberately fired a projectile towards a person and that person has lost their sight and possibly their eye.
“One can only imagine how traumatic this has been for him. Few of us can imagine the possibility of having one of our eyes removed.
“Actions have consequences. Such an impact, notwithstanding your mitigation, means appropriate justice can only be achieved by immediate custody.”
Throughout the hearing, Bower sat with his head in his hands. Meanwhile, his aunt sobbed from the public gallery.