Mother faces huge bill after son blinds friend at crazy golf

A MOTHER whose ‘boisterous’ son blinded a friend with a crazy golf club during his birthday party was yesterday told to pay damages to the injured boy.

The total could be a six-figure sum after a High Court judge said she was negligent in not telling the ten-year-old to keep his club low as she knew his character traits.

Her son had become annoyed when he could not hole the ball and took a ‘big swing like a professional golfer’, hitting the victim in the face with the metal club. The nine-year-old suffered a devastating injury which left him blind in his left eye, the court heard.

Mrs Justice Whipple said the mother knew her son, who cannot be identified and was referred to only as J, was ‘boisterous and required firm handling’.

The judge said she ‘negligently’ failed to tell him not to swing the club too high at his birthday treat at Bosworth Water Park in Market Bosworth, Warwickshire.

She was close to the course with the family dog as her son played with two schoolfriends. The first she knew of the accident was when she heard the other boy – known only as S – scream. The victim’s parents said J was ‘volatile and unpredictable’ but his parents insisted their son was ‘a normal, well-behaved boy’.

J’s mother said she had asked the boys if they had played crazy golf before and was assured they had and knew what to do.

She warned them to ‘keep their distance whilst each took their turn’.

The judgment overturned a ruling at Leicester County Court last year which found that J was ‘not a dangerous child’ although he was sometimes impulsive. Judge Alison Hampton said his mother had reasonably supervised the party.

But yesterday at the High Court in Birmingham, Mrs Justice Whipple said: ‘J required firm handling because he could be boisterous and impetuous.

‘His mother knew this. It was reasonable to expect J’s mother to give a firm and clear instruction that he should not swing his club. This was the very minimum. J would not have swung his club if he had been told not to.

‘The failure to provide firm han- dling, in the form of a clear instruction to J, was a negligent failure.’

The Bosworth Water Trust, which manages the park, was also ordered to pay damages. The crazy golf was aimed at children and there should have been a sign warning against raising their clubs too high, the court heard.

A risk assessment was only carried out after S was injured. A notice was put up setting out the rules and rubber putters replaced metal ones. The amount of compensation and how it will be split has yet to be decided.