Man sentenced for gouging out woman's eye

EDINBURGH, Scotland, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- A judge in Scotland said a 26-year-old man will spend 12 years in prison for gouging out one of his ex-lover's eyes while trying to kill her.

Judge John Morris of the High Court in Edinburgh said Francis Murphy's attacks on his former girlfriend, Natalie Farrell, were nearly "medieval in their barbarity" given the fact he pulled out her eyeball and threw it off a high-rise balcony, The Scotsman reported Saturday.

"You were convicted of crimes which are almost medieval in their barbarity and which would make any right-thinking person recoil in horror," Morris said Friday.

Murphy was convicted of breaking into the home of Farrell, 27, on May 26 and trying to strangle her. Murphy also attempted to throw Farrell off the balcony of her high-rise apartment and violently removed her eye during the attack.

Farrell testified Murphy was upset after she ended their relationship of 10 years and began sharing her home with another man. Farrell said while paramedics located her eye, medical workers couldn't re-attach it, The Scotsman reported.