A man admitted to aiming an air gun at a young child and pulling the trigger in order to stop him from crying, according to police in the United Kingdom.
25-year-old Jordan Walters appeared before Judge Julian Lambert at the Bristol Crown Court on Friday.
Walters was sentenced after having pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing grievous bodily harm to an 18-month-old child.
Harry Studley, now aged two, still has a pellet lodged in his brain, and has been left with damage to both eyes after Walters shot him with the airgun at an apartment in Bristol.
Studley required emergency surgery and the effects of his injury will remain with him throughout his life.
Judge Julian Lambert said: “You bear a very heavy responsibility for a crime that left a little boy fighting for his life and which leaves him with serious, permanent disability. Only the resolution of Studley in his fight for life and the brilliance of the surgical team saved him.”
The boy has lost most of his vision for life.
Walters was sentenced to 2 years in prison. Walters’ partner, 24-year-old Emma Horseman, was found not guilty of causing grievous bodily harm by aiding and abetting.
According to the police investigation, Studley lived with his parents, Ed and Amy Alle, in an upstairs apartment on Bishport Avenue.
Horseman lived on the second floor with Walters and their two children. They had been friends for about six years and their children played together.
On the day of the incident, Allen took Studley and his brother to Horseman’s apartment and sat on a sofa with her toddler who was upset and crying.
Walters then fired the gun at Studley, because he wanted to scare the child in order for him to shut up. Walters claimed that he thought the gun was empty.