It’s horrific what they did & I was lucky not to die

Lorry driver left blinded in one eye makes info appeal

A MAN blinded in one eye after a bin full of rock was dropped on his lorry is still getting flashbacks.

Fra Mccaffrey was driving along the A8 Larne Road in Co Antrim, on January 8 when thugs hurled the bin from an overpass.

The windscreen shattered and it took two surgeries to remove the glass from the West Belfast man’s eye.

Speaking on Crime NI on BBC 1, Mr Mccaffrey said: “I am now on [anti] depressants. Sometimes I feel down, it depends. [There are] mood swings but most of the time I am pretty positive.

“You get flashbacks because it is so horrific. It is about just trying to keep focused and moving on and that is what my life is about now.

“The sight was the worst because you depend on driving for a living.”

Appealing for information on the culprits, he added: “The people who did this, they could do it again.

“I am hoping that whoever has done this, may have said to someone else. It is a few months down the line so they might open a bit more. Maybe this will jog someone’s memory.

“It was horrific what they did and I was probably lucky I didn’t die.

“I want to say a thank you to all the people who have given me support - my family, my wife’s family, Deirdre, my kids.

“The GAA community and soccer community have all rallied round and helped me through this.” Supt Michael Simpson, who is leading the investigation, said they are not treating it as a targeted attack.

He added: “That doesn’t lessen the impact. He is very lucky to be alive.

“When the delivery driver was making his normal route from Belfast to Larne. The wheelie bin was thrown over the barrier causing the windscreen to smash, striking the driver with shards of glass.

“It was only when the lorry came to a stop that the driver realised the extent of his injuries. The glass shattered and entered his eye.

“Unfortunately, he is now blinded in one eye all because somebody chose to throw a wheelie bin over a road. This has had major impact on this driver.

“As bad as this was, had that wheelie bin had struck a smaller car or a vehicle that wasn’t a lorry, I have no doubt we would have been dealing with a fatality.”