A MAN threw a glass at his friend during a row in a city centre cafe, almost costing him his sight in one eye, York Crown Court heard.

Takeaway restaurant owner Khareem Zidjen, 29, must pay £1,000 compensation to his friend for wounding him twice on the face by throwing the glass at him.

Both men were part of a group sitting at a table at Costa Coffee’s Market Street branch in York city centre at 2pm on July 29 when they argued, said Paul Abrahams, prosecuting.

The argument turned into a struggle involving several people.

Zidjien picked up a glass and threw it into the face of his friend who was no more than four feet away.

It broke and cut his nose and near his left eye, leaving two scars.

Judge Robert Bartfield told Zidjien: “Everyone was enjoying the peace and quiet and the two of you started having a set-to.... You did it impulsively but it was a seriously dangerous thing to do and you could have put his eye out.”

Earlier he had said: “As far as I can see quite why you fell out is not significant as far as the case is concerned.”

Zidjien, of Neville Terrace, The Groves, York, pleaded guilty to wounding on the basis he didn’t expect that the glass would break.

He was given a 14-month prison sentence suspended for two years on condition he does 200 hours’ unpaid work. He must also pay £1,000 compensation.

For him, Mark Partridge said the former Iraqi, now a UK citizen, had arrived in the country with very little and by hard work in the restaurant trade, improved his position until he now ran his own takeaway. His business was prospering.

“This is an enterprising and hard working young man who has made a very big mistake by committing an offence,” he said.

If he were jailed, there would be no-one to do the cooking and he may lose all he had built up, he added.