Nose bite attack ruined my life

A MODEL whose best pal bit off his nose in a drunken brawl today said the attack had ruined his life.

John Brash, whose modelling career is over, says he now lives like a hermit and will never be happy with his appearance again. He has lost his confidence with girls and faces years of surgery to repair his disfigured face.

Charles Cassidy, was yesterday jailed for 40 months for mutilating Mr Brash's face in a fight. Cassidy straddled him and sunk his teeth into his friend's nose after an argument over a prank involving hair removal cream.

Now Mr Brash must glue on a silicone prosthetic nose because plastic surgery to reattach his real one failed. Despite saying the attack had destroyed his confidence and forced him to live like a hermit, Mr Brash broke down when his attacker was jailed and claimed the sentence was too tough.

"I didn't think he would get that much, it was far too much," he said.

At Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday, Cassidy, who Mr Brash has known since he was just seven-years-old, was locked up for 40 months after earlier admitting the horrific attack.

John said he knew Cassidy, 20, could be dangerous but never thought his boyhood mate would turn on him.

Today he relived the horrifying attack. "He had me pinned down with his knees on my shoulders and was gouging at my eyes.

"I couldn't believe it, I told him he was an animal."

But Cassidy wasn't finished. He said: "I'll show you an animal," and sunk his teeth into Mr Brash's face, chewing on his nose with such strength he lifted his victim's head from the ground.

John said: "The pain was unbelievable and I was screaming at him but he just kept chewing.

"He was biting so hard that he lifted my head off the ground.

"I could taste my blood running down my throat and was worried that I was going to choke on it. It was agony and actually a relief when the nose came off because there was less pain and he got off me."

SPL starlet Ian Black, who plays for Inverness Caledonian Thistle, was a witness at the hearing.

Although Cassidy had already admitted biting off John's nose, he denied some of the circumstances surrounding the attack.

Mr Black, 23, witnessed the incident from the window of a nearby home and backed up much of John's story.

The Scotland B international was described as "credible and reliable" by Sheriff Isabella McColl.

Mr Brash believes he will never be happy with how he looks again.

He added: "Every time I look in the mirror now, I wonder what if it hadn't happened. We would still be mates, I would still have my nose and Charles wouldn't be in jail.

"It's my life ruined. I won't be confident enough to speak to girls. There won't be anymore modelling either. I was with an agency but now I know that is over."

Mr Brash was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after the incident before being sent to plastic surgery specialists in St John's Hospital in Livingston.

But emergency surgery to reattach the nose failed after his nose couldn't establish a blood supply.

Mr Brash, a roofer, said: "At that point I was still hopeful I would keep my nose and I would just have a bad scar. I was devastated when they said the operation hadn't worked. I just started crying.

"It just turned black and they had to take it off.

"They gave me a skin graft from my thigh and a silicone nose to glue on. I just know I will never be happy with it again."

Now he will undergo more operations to stretch skin from his forehead to replace his severed nose. Doctors say it will take years to heal.

At Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday, Sheriff McColl described the attack as "unusual and appalling" and sentenced Cassidy to 40 months, backdated to March when he first locked up.

Cassidy's defence solicitor, Gary Millar said: "He is shocked, disgusted and embarrassed by his actions and extends his apologies to Mr Brash."

John's mum Joan insisted the sentence was not long enough. She added: "Animals should be kept in their kennels."