The 30-year-old victim of a vicious attack in a German nightclub by a Moroccan migrant which left him blinded has spoken out on the incident for the first time.
Tony B. sustained life-changing injuries including the loss of sight in his left eye and considerable damage to his right when 41-year-old Moroccan Aissam D. struck him with a glass to the face in the early hours of April 30.
The incident occurred at the Milchbar nightclub in the Bavarian city of Munich at around 5 a.m. when video footage showed a dispute between the pair which resulted in Tony being attacked and falling to the floor where he awaited rescue workers in a pool of blood.
Tony was taken to the Rechts der Isar Hospital where he was placed into an induced coma as doctors operated to remove shards of broken glass from his eyes. Unfortunately, Tony lost his left eye, and his right eye was badly damaged, leaving him visually impaired. He also sustained several lacerations to his face which have left permanent scarring.
“I’m aware that I will never look the same again,” Tony wrote in a caption accompanying a photograph on social media of him with his sister who is now his primary carer.
It is understood from the victim’s account that he confronted his attacker after being told the Moroccan national had spiked a girl’s drink at the bar.
Tony’s sister wrote on Instagram on her brother’s behalf: “My group that was there told me that I must have caught the guy putting drops in a girl’s glass and I confronted him.”
Following the attack, the Moroccan migrant was arrested and placed in custody. He told the authorities that Tony had headbutted him, an accusation denied by the victim but that is still being investigated.
Four months on from the attack, Tony is engrossed in a legal dispute over compensation for the pain and suffering he has experienced. In civil litigation, Tony has been offered €10,000 as compensation from his attacker’s lawyers, a figure the victim insists is wholly unacceptable.
“I’m shocked by this ‘offer’ and see it more as an insult, to be honest,” Tony wrote on social media.
“According to the compensation table, I am entitled to 25,000 euros for an injured eye and significantly more for a blind one. There are the massive scars on my face and the coma, fractured shoulder, trauma, etc,” he added.
Tony also acknowledged that he is unlikely to be able to work again for the rest of his life.
German newspaper Bild reported how Tony is still coming to terms with the consequences of the attack and is struggling to adapt to life as someone who is visually impaired. He is understood to be suffering from panic attacks when in crowds following the ordeal.
He is awaiting an operation scheduled for next month which may allow him to regain some sight in his right eye, although this is no guarantee.
