A man who suffered a "catastrophic" eye injury and later had his eye removed told his eye surgeon that he had been hit by his girlfriend, a Supreme Court jury heard today.
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Dr Nicholas Downie was giving evidence in the trial of Lisa Maree Doolan, of Youngtown.
Ms Doolan, 44, has pleaded not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to her estranged partner Shannon Watson on June 4, 2016.
The trial has heard that Mr Watson had his left eye removed in the weeks after suffering an injury at Ms Doolan's Youngtown home. The Crown alleges Ms Doolan punched Mr Watson in the eye.
Defence counsel Fran McCracken has suggested that Mr Watson could have suffered the injury when vomiting or through some other misadventure.
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Dr Downie operated on Mr Watson's eye nine days before the injury and saw him soon after.
Asked by Crown prosecutor Luke Brett whether Mr Watson had talked about the incident Dr Downie said: "He was fairly reticent but he did indicate that he had been hit in the eye ... by his girlfriend at the time."
Dr Downie said that he received a call on his mobile from a woman on June 5 who said Mr Watson had been elbowed in the eye at a wedding.
Under examination from Mr Brett Dr Downie said that such an injury could only be caused by blunt force trauma.
"It would take trauma direct to the eye to cause that injury?," he asked.
"Yes," Dr Downie said.
"Could vomiting cause such an injury," Mr Brett asked.
"No, if sutures are ruptured vomiting can make it worse,but vomiting on its own most unlikely," he said.
"For sutures to be ruptured there would need to be force to the eye?," Mr Brett asked.
"Yes," Dr Downie said.
Under cross examination from Ms McCracken he said that in a 40-year career comprising 450 corneal graft operations he had seen three similar injuries.
"Two patients were punched in the eye and one was hit in the eye with a mattress," he said.
Dr Downie agreed with Ms McCracken that the chances of saving the eye would have been improved if Mr Watson had sought earlier medical treatment.
The trial before Justice Robert Pearce continues on Tuesday.
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