Former Irish international pool player tells court he was left 'unrecognisable' after alleged acid attack
The jury of seven women and five men were shown photographs of extensive injuries to Mr Pickford’s head, face and chest
A former Ireland international pool player who was left disfigured following an alleged acid attack, told a court today he was "unrecognisable" immediately afterwards due to the extent of his injuries.
Ian Pickford (24), Garryowen, Limerick, told the trial of his alleged attacker, John Cross, that he had no doubt it was Mr Cross who threw an acid substance in his face.
Mr Pickford, a former Limerick intermediate pool champion who was also capped for Ireland at junior level, identified Mr Cross in court as the person who flung the "corrosive substance" at him.
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Mr Cross, (35), with an address at St Lawrence’s Park, Garryowen, denies one count of intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Mr Pickford, during a house party at Mr Cross’s home, in the early hours of June 14, 2020.
Today, on the opening day of the trial at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, Mr Pickford gave evidence of the impact of being burned by an acid substance: "I was unrecognisable at the time it happened. It was the worst I ever felt, I felt terrible and I didn’t know why it happened."
The witness said that following the attack he went to his parents' home, located nearby, and his father rushed him to University Hospital Limerick where he said the doctors and nurses "saved me".
Mr Pickford said he was transferred to the specialist Burns Unit at Cork University Hospital where he spent three days, before being transferred to St James’s Hospital, Dublin, where he spent the following three months undergoing more specialist treatment for his injuries.
The jury of seven women and five men were shown photographs of extensive injuries to Mr Pickford’s head, face and chest.
"I had multiple skin grafts put on my face which were taken from my left thigh, and put across my forehead, my cheek and my two eyelids," Mr Pickford explained.
Mr Pickford said he underwent four surgeries to try to heal the scarring on his upper body.
"I had terrible pain after the procedures across my face, one of the skin grafts never took and I got a blood clot so they (surgeons) had to redo it," he said.
He added that he "lost some sight" in his left eye, and he no longer plays pool competitively.
Mr Pickford, who said he had known Mr Cross for a number of years and lived close to his house, was asked by prosecution barrister John O’Sullivan to show the jury up close the extensive scarring across his head, face and neck.
Photographs of clothing containing scorch marks and burned holes, that had been worn by Mr Pickford at the time of the alleged acid attack, were also shown to the jury.
Asked by Mr O’Sullivan who was the person who threw the acid into his face, Mr Pickford replied, "John Cross".
"You have no doubt?" Mr O’Sullivan asked.
"None," the witness replied.
Mr Pickford said that a few months before the alleged attack he had been charged before the courts with having a "very small amount of cocaine" which he said was "for a friend".
Under cross-examination, Mr Pickford agreed with Mr Cross' barrister, senior counsel Brian McInerney, that he had consumed at least eight cans of cider on the night prior to the alleged attack, but he disagreed with Mr McInerney that he was probably "drunk".
Mr Pickford accepted that results of blood tests taken from him at UHL on the night in question which showed he had 198 milligrams (mg) of alcohol per deciliter (dL) of blood.
Mr McInerney put it to Mr Pickford that the hospital had provided a chart which explained that 50-100mg/dL can result in "flushing, slowing of reflexes and impairment", and that, over 100mg/dL could result in "a depression of the (CNS) Central Nervous System...and you had almost double this level".
Mr Pickford replied: "I still know who done it to me, I seen who did it to me".
Mr Pickford agreed with Mr McInerney that he had told gardai that a "tall man" with a "husky voice" who he did not know had said to him immediately after the alleged incident, "that’s what you get for being a rat".
Mr Pickford said he believed this was a comment "referring to the time I got caught with the cocaine" but he did not know why he had been attacked.
Mr Pickford said the drugs case against him was "struck out" by the courts after he was discharged from hospital.
Answering Mr McInerney, Mr Pickford said he took the phrase "rat" to mean a person "giving information to the gardai," but there was no evidence Mr Pickford had given any information to gardai about anything.
Mr Pickford denied suggestions by Mr McInerney that he was trying to blame "an entirely innocent man" for the attack because he was "afraid" of identifying the actual culprit.
Mr McInerney told Mr Pickford: "I take no pleasure in these questions, it (the attack) should not have happened, and it is to be condemned, but I put it to you that it was not John Cross, it was someone else that you’re afraid of."
Mr Pickford denied suggestions by Mr McInerney that he was "hiding something from the jury".
Mr Pickford repeated, "It was John Cross that did it", and he alleged that on the night Mr Cross threatened him not to tell anyone what had happened.
Mr Pickford agreed with Mr McInerney that he had initially told gardai that Mr Cross and another man had "helped" him out of Mr Cross’s house after the alleged attack.
In his direct evidence in court Mr Pickford said he had not immediately told his parents, hospital staff, nor gardai, that Mr Cross was the alleged attacker "out of fear of thee consequences of what would happen to my family if I did".
The trial continues.
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