A MAN was cleared yesterday of a glassing in a town centre bar which left a disabled man's helper almost blind in one eye.

Carl Andrew Simmons, 26, had taken his wheelchair-bound friend Tony Steele around the shops and Wednesday market in Stockton, before he was injured in the Ibiza Bar on the High Street.

Mr Simmons told police that he was in the toilets when he heard the sound of breaking glass, and in a scuffle to defend himself, he was struck by broken glass or a bottle in the right eye, Teesside Crown Court was told.

But Ian Jack Snowden, 18, said that Mr Simmons had grabbed him by the throat in the toilets, causing him to drop the glass.

Mr Snowden ran from the toilets and attempted to speak to the manager, who pushed him away.

He then ran to the nearby police station, but the desk officer thought that he was drunk and he was effectively thrown out.

Peter Makepeace, prosecuting, said: "To his credit, he goes back to the bar, and he actually gives the bar manager his name and a rough description of an address where he can be contacted."

After a three-day trial, Mr Snowden, now 19, of Junction Road, Norton, Stockton, was found not guilty of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm on September 6 last year.