Blinded by bleach thug for playing the guitar

Music graduate speaks for first time about horrific maiming ordeal.

A classical guitarist blinded when a junkie threw bleach in his eyes has spoken of his terror at losing his sight.

Greg Aitken was left in agony after homeless George Kerr, 57, hurled a cupful of burning ammonia at his face in a horrific street attack.

The callous unprovoked assault destroyed the corneas in each of the 22-year-old’s eyes, completely ravaging Greg’s eyesight and leaving him writhing in agony.

Kerr who’d never met the music graduate victim before the brutal attack was last week jailed for more than five-years after pleading guilty to the cowardly act. But musician Greg is facing the reality of a life sentence of his own, with his eyes so savaged by the poison that he’s unable to leave his home.

Talking exclusively to The Sunday Post, Greg has recalled the horror for the first time.

“It was instant and utterly unbearable pain,” he said. “I was plunged into darkness and couldn’t open my eyes. My face was covered in it and my eyes were in searing pain. It had gone up and was burning my nose, and was in my mouth. I was screaming. It’s completely changed my life. I now can’t spend any time outside and have to wear sunglasses indoors. Doctors are hopeful, but the attack might have left my right eye blind forever.”

Talented Greg, of Grangemouth, graduated from Glasgow’s Academy of Music and Sound in December 2013. The popular jazz and classical guitarist, who also plays piano and banjo, was a recognisable face in the city’s music scene.

He had a residency in the Beresford Lounge, but was best known playing live in trendy Ashton Lane, where he’d entertain revellers with a string of hits from the ’60s.

However, his busking days which could see him earn up to £150-a-time, allowing him to keep-up rental payments on his nearby flat were brought to a horrific end on September 12 last year when twisted Kerr threw a cardboard cup of ammonia used in industrial cleaning products into his face.

Greg said: “Earlier in the week I’d been confronted by a beggar who hangs around Ashton Lane. He’d usually hassle me and other buskers, but that day he was particularly aggressive and grabbed me by the neck of my clothes. I hit him to get him off and we went our separate ways.”

Little did Greg know, that four days later his world would be turned on its head.

He continued: “I was sitting playing and talking to one of my friends at around 8pm on the Friday night when the beggar and this guy George Kerr who I’d never seen before came up behind me. I turned round and just like that he [Kerr] threw the liquid into my face. It looked like it was in a cardboard cup, the type you’d get from a fast food restaurant. The burning sensation was the worst pain I have ever encountered.

“The smell and taste were completely overpowering. From the moment it touched my skin, I knew it wasn’t water. Every time I even tried to open my eyes the agony intensified. When I did manage, I had absolutely no vision in either of my eyes, only black. A bouncer ran over with what I later learned was an ice bucket of water.

“He doused my face but it didn’t relieve the searing pain or return my sight. I was rushed to hospital. I couldn’t see anything and the pain was overwhelming. I don’t think I’ll ever experience anything more terrifying in my life.”

Rushed to the Western Infirmary, doctors carefully prised his eyes open. For two-and-a-half hours, they pumped a cleansing liquid into his eyes in the hope of saving his sight.

Greg said: “By the end of it I could see the most basic blurred visions of things an inch from my face. Other than that, nothing.”

Doctors then transferred him to Gartnavel Hospital’s specialist eye clinic, where experts performed tests.

He continued: “At that point I hadn’t been told anything. I began to panic I was going to be blind for life. It was a horrible thought. I was in disbelief.”

The cornea in each of Greg’s eyes had been burned away in the horror attack. Doctors say it is still too early to tell what the long-term effect of that will be.

“One told me in no uncertain terms how serious it was. He said I could permanently lose my sight,” said Greg. “My heart sank to the depths of my stomach being told that. I was upset but more angry than anything.

“How could someone have done this to me? Someone I didn’t even know. I couldn’t help but scream and shout.”

Even now, five months on, the music fan’s life is on hold while he waits to discover if he’ll ever regain his vision. His sensitivity to light has resulted in him being virtually housebound, unable to bear the brightness.

Greg, who had hoped to work as an entertainer on cruise ships, added: “It’s been very difficult to cope with what happened. One minute I had my life in front of me, and the next, nothing.

“Most days I stay home as the light outside is too much to deal with. I had to put a coat over my head on a trip to hospital to make it dark.

“My friends and family have been a huge support, without them I’m not sure how I would have coped. I also spend a lot of my time writing music, and I hope in the long term there will be something in the industry for me.

“It’s that love of music that I truly believe has kept me going. But everything is on hold, and I’ve no idea how things are going to turn out.”

Mum Margaret has also told of her disbelief of what happened to her son. She said: “I couldn’t believe one person would do this to another. When we saw Greg I couldn’t help but be taken aback. I’ve never seen eyes like it.

“All we could do was cry. We were all devastated.”

Greg has faced countless trips to specialist clinics since. While his condition has improved, he remains almost completely blind in one eye. He hopes a cornea transplant in his severely damaged right eye may save his vision.

He said: “If I close my left eye I basically can’t see anything. I can see the bright light of a window, nothing more. Both eyes get sore so I end up just sitting with them closed a lot of the time.”

In sentencing Kerr at the High Court in Paisley last week, the judge described the assault as “a truly dreadful crime”, jailing him for five years and eight months.

Despite having to deal with his loss of vision, nightmares and near constant flashbacks to the sickening attack, Greg, who’s been forced to move back into his parents’ Grangemouth home, remains positive.

He said: “The first month was horrific but I’ve learnt to not feel sorry for myself.”