Man jailed for vicious glass attack which left victim permanently blind in right eye

A man has been jailed after he smashed a wine glass in another man’s face because of a disagreement during a football game whilst in a pub, leaving the victim with permanent loss of sight in his right eye.

Following an investigation by the City of London Police, Shemsi Kercova, 27, of Pennine Way, Hillingdon, was sentenced to fifteen months in prison on Friday 15 October 2021 at Inner London Crown Court. He was found guilty to grievous bodily harm (GBH) at a previous hearing.

Detective Constable James Andrews, from the City of London Police, said:

“This was a vicious and senseless attack. It is awful that the victim will now have to live the rest of his life without vision in his right eye, all because of a disagreement over a football match and the subsequent, horrible actions of Kercova.

“I hope that the sentence passed down today brings some closure to the victim, although no sentence will make up for how much these injuries have changed their life.”

The attack took place on Friday 25 January 2019 at approximately 21:30 hours at a pub on Throgmorton Street in the Square Mile. A football match was being shown and the victim, along with some friends, went in and sat down to watch. Kercova and a group of his friends were sat behind them.

The victim soon noticed Kervoca being very aggressive towards one of his friends because he was vaping. The victim then decided to vape himself and he heard Kercova and his group of friends shouting at him, saying ‘Hey you, hey you’.

One of the football teams scored, which Kercova and his friends celebrated, but were very aggressive in their demeanour.

Kercova got up from his chair and threw some wine in the air, and at the victim and his friend. The victim responded, throwing a small amount of beer back in the direction of Kercova.

With the wine glass in his hand, Kercova then walked over to the victim and punched him on the right side of his face, so hard that it caused the glass to smash. Pieces of glass went into the victim’s eye and face, and he collapsed to the floor. Kercova shortly left the scene with his friends after the incident.

In his witness statement, the victim described the immense pain he felt, and that he couldn’t see out of his right eye and blood was streaming from his face. The attack has left the victim with permanent blindness in his right eye.

Kercova was arrested five days later on Wednesday 30 January 2019. Kercova gave a prepared statement where he stated that he accidently struck the victim in the face whilst he was holding a wine glass. He declined to answer any further questions about the incident.