~ Victim regains sight after op
~ Attacker escapes jail
April
26, 2007
THIS is not an illustration.
It is the X-ray of 20-year-old Australian student Shafique
El-Fahkri's head after he was struck by a metal chair during a
Melbourne nightclub brawl in January.
His attacker, Liam Peart,20, had hurled the chair at Mr El-Fahkri,
who raised his arms to protect himself, reported The Age.
A chair leg plunged 10cm into Mr El-Fahkri's left eye socket and
down into his neck.
Thinking he had killed the student, Peart panicked and ran, but
surrendered to the police the next day, reported Associated
Press.
Mr El-Fahkri was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where a
team of five surgeons performed a complex three-hour operation to
save his life.
He then spent a month in intensive care.
Mr El-Fakhri told The Age in an interview this week that after the
incident, his vision was very blurry, his body was weak and his
neck was stiff. He has since recovered 95 per cent of his
vision.
He added in a voice raspy from having the chair leg pass through
his throat: 'I feel all right at the moment, actually, but I am too
weak for work.'
Earlier this week, Peart pleaded guilty to a charge of negligently
causing serious injury. He was sentenced to 400 hours of community
service and will be monitored by corrections officers for two
years.
Magistrate Peter Reardon said Peart was lucky that Mr El-Fahkri
survived the attack.
He said: 'It's a blessing in a sense this young man was not killed
or really seriously harmed. It might be a wake-up call for you that
there are worse-off people than yourself.'
Mr El-Fahkri holds no grudges against his attacker.
'I forgive him, totally,' he told The Age.