A young boy struck close to the eye by a firework and his family must wait a further six weeks before finding out his vision is permanently damaged.
Finbarr O’Toole was struck as he walked with two friends through a west Belfast park around 8.30pm last Saturday evening. They were targeted by a group of youths, police said.
The 12-year-old, from the Glen Road area, went for a check up at the Royal Victoria Hospital on Thursday, when and mother, Louise, were told the vision out of one eye remains greatly reduced.
“They want to see him again in six weeks time. We will know then if his vision is reduced permanently,” said Ms O’Toole, adding that she sensed medical staff were not confident his sight will ever fully recover.
A measure of the damage was revealed in an eye test where Finbarr could only identify the top two tiers of letters with his damaged eye compared to going all to the way to the bottom with the other, his mother said.
There is still bleeding and bruising to the back of the eye. When he closes the eye, Finbarr sees black dots. The eye continues to be runny as there was damage to the tear duct. He needed 10 small stitches.
Police are investigating the attack on the boys but have yet to take a statement from Finbarr, with his mother believing they wanted to give him time to recover.
Following the attack as they walked through Páirc Nua Chollan, one of the friends called Ms O’Toole in a “terrible state”.
He was “saying he (Finbarr) was bleeding out of one of his eyes,” Ms O’Toole said. “When they called me I could hear screaming in the background.”
The boy will return to school on Monday but has been told to avoid actions that could cause further damage, and particularly not take part in contact sports.
“This incident was traumatic to both the young male and his family, who has suffered a serious injury as a result of this reckless assault,” Belfast Area Chief Inspector Louise Dunne said.
“I would ask parents to consider how they would feel if this was their child who had endured these injuries.
“As we approach the Halloween period, I would ask local parents and guardians to speak to their young people about where they are and who they are with, and to warn them of the dangers of getting involved in this type of behaviour.”
