Port Lincoln man Gary Blaney shot with slingshot over barking dog Port Lincoln man Gary Blaney was attacked by a stranger with a sling shot. Picture: Noelle Bobrige Source: News Limited Gary Blaney wants the person who shot him a slingshot to be brought to justice. IT took just a split second, but Gary Blaney will be dealing with the consequences for the rest of his life. A random attack by a slingshot-wielding thug has cost the 33-year-old Port Lincoln fisherman an eye and his career, leaving him with an uncertain future. Mr Blaney has also been forced to take his 13-year-old daughter out of school and relocate from Port Lincoln to Victor Harbor to be closer to the Adelaide specialists and therapists who are helping him to rebuild his life. The mussel farmer and part-time prawn fisherman said the incident, which happened on the afternoon of September 14, began with his dog barking at three people who were walking past his house. Mr Blaney was in his front yard at the time, tidying up his garden in preparation for a rental inspection. "They were upset and told me the dog should be on a leash, and I apologised and grabbed the dog to take it back inside," Mr Blaney said. I turned my back on them and walked away. I'd taken three or four steps when one of them ran up behind me with a cocked slingshot. He fired a rock from about 2m away, straight into my eye. The rock split Mr Blaney's eye in half horizontally, causing the vitreous humour - the fluid that fills the eyeball - to spill into his hand. The force of the projectile also pushed his eyeball about 3cm back into his eye socket. "I put my hand up to my eye - and when I pulled it down, it was like my hand was filled with egg white," Mr Blaney said. I flicked the fluid onto the ground, then went inside and put a jacket into my eye socket to stop the bleeding. I knew I was in trouble. Mr Blaney's friend drove him to the Port Lincoln Hospital, where doctors decided to fly him to the Royal Adelaide Hospital. They sewed my eyeball back together . . . and when I woke up, a doctor said, 'You've got some pretty big decisions to make'. Basically the choice was to have up to five operations on the eye, which would never have worked or looked any good again, and run the risk of my right eye going out in sympathy with my left, or get a prosthetic eye. Mr Blaney now has a high-density ball of foam where his eye once was, and he's waiting for a front cover to be created. He needs more operations to raise his drooping eyelid and will soon begin working with a motion instructor to improve his co-ordination. "The people from the Royal Society for the Blind said that could take up to two years," he said. Mr Blaney said he didn't believe his attacker could have had any idea how much his actions would affect Mr Blaney's life and that of his family. "I've worked on boats most of my life," he said. But when you've been told to stay away from moving parts, well that pretty much rules out fishing for a living. My boss has told me that there's a job waiting for me when I've recovered but that could be a long time off. I'm not an IT guy or an office guy; I don't have those skills. Even if I do retrain, then I'm going to be back where I was as a 17-year-old, earning 17-year-old wages. Mr Blaney, who enjoys spending time on the ocean on his days off, said the gravity of the situation hit home this week while he was fishing for crayfish with his brother and father at Sheringa, on the state's West Coast. "We were out there pulling pots, and I couldn't get the rope around the winch," Mr Blaney said. I just kept missing because losing my eye has affected my depth perception and co-ordination so badly. It broke my heart. And in a cruel twist of fate, the attack meant Mr Blaney missed out on spending valuable time with his mother, who recently died. "I was over here, getting treated, when I should have been home with her," he said. I missed the last six weeks of her life. The offender is yet to be arrested, and South Australia Police said investigations into the incident were continuing. Mr Blaney said he believed he knew the identity of his attacker and is frustrated that he is still on the streets. "The person who shot me is a danger to society - he needs to be arrested," Mr Blaney said. My dog barked at him, and he shot me in the eye. Another couple of centimetres and I could have been a vegetable or dead. I'd really like for him to be locked up before I return to Port Lincoln. If you have information on the attack, phone Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000