An apprentice electrician has avoided jail after the leg of a chair he threw speared into the face of a teenager near a Melbourne nightclub.
Surgeons at the Royal Melbourne Hospital saved Shafique el-Fahkri's left eye - and his life - after he was struck on January 21.
Mr el-Fahkri, now 20, has 95 per cent of the vision back in his eye and bears no grudge against Liam Peart who had pleaded guilty to a charge of negligently causing serious injury.
"I forgive him, totally," Mr el-Fahkri told The Age last week after Peart, 20, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court.
The defendant fled the scene but later confessed to his family and police, his lawyer Duncan Allen told the court.
Mr Allen said his client was remorseful and while the offence was serious, it was not premeditated.
"With the weapon he used, he picked up the closest thing and chucked it," he said.
He said one witness had described his client as being "devastated and in tears'' by his actions.
The court was told Peart, an apprentice electrician, had a clean record and had quickly confessed.
Magistrate Peter Reardon today decided not to jail Peart or order him to serve a term in a youth training centre (YTC).
Mr Reardon said given Peart's age and lack of prior convictions, jail was inappropriate and a YTC sentence was not suitable because his rehabilitation was progressing.
He adjourned sentencing for Peart, of Oak Park, until tomorrow after he is assessed for his suitability for a community-based order.
