A grandfather was blinded with a broken bottle after a row erupted over a crumpled-up paper, it was claimed in the High Court.

Lawyers for Hugh McCabe, 19, also alleged that the victim first came at him with a knife during the struggle at a house in the New Lodge area of north Belfast.

McCabe, of Derryveagh Drive in the city, faces charges of grievous bodily harm with intent, aggravated assault on a female, and criminal damage.

A prosecuting barrister told a bail application that had become involved in an argument after he and his girlfriend visited her grandfather last November.

Fiona O’Kane said it was alleged that McCabe smashed a bottle and stabbed the older man in the eye.

She confirmed that the victim has since lost the sight in his injured eye.

McCabe, who denies carrying out the attack, is also accused of throwing a brick through a living room window of the house and punching the blinded man’s partner in the stomach.

But defence counsel Michael Boyd claimed that when his client arrived at the property the grandfather was drunk and became aggressive towards him.

Mr Boyd said: "When the applicant crumpled up a piece of paper he lost his temper, confronted him and told him to get out of the house."

He claimed that as McCabe was leaving the man came at him with a knife which slipped out onto the street.

The pair grappled and ended up on the ground, the court was told.

Mr Boyd alleged that it was another person who grabbed the bottle and inflicted the injuries.

"Clearly a tragic and very serious incident unfolded, but it was not one that he (McCabe) brought about," the barrister said. "He acted in self-defence."

The court was also told that police have yet to speak to McCabe’s girlfriend about what happened.

Refusing bail, Mr Justice Treacy ruled that any delay in the case was not enough to warrant releasing McCabe.