A Sturry man has been convicted of wounding a girl when she was shot in the eye with an air gun pellet last July.

Tristram Keen claimed he didn’t fire the shot that blinded the child in her left eye, saying an eight-year-old boy who was with him in Hersden woods at the time, fired the shot.

The prosecution maintained it was Keen who pointed the gun at the girl, albeit messing about, causing the injury.

The 11 year old lost her eye and the pellet is still lodged in her head. It's thought to be too dangerous to remove.

Keen, 24, of Popes Lane went on trial accused of unlawful and malicious wounding.

On Friday, sentencing on Keen, a builders labourer with no previous convictions, was adjourned for a pre-sentence report. Judge Michael O’Sullivan warned Keen it was a serious offence and custody would be at the forefront of the court’s mind.

During the trial at Canterbury Crown Court, the jury heard Keen and the boy had gone shooting in the woods and he received a text telling him the girl and her sister were coming to the woods and to be careful.

He said he handed the loaded and cocked gun to the boy to hold while he looked at his phone and heard the gun fire. He didn’t see which direction the shot went.

The boy said he couldn’t be sure he did fire the last shot. They had been taking it in turns to fire and he couldn’t remember who was firing the gun at the time.

The gun is to be destroyed.

Keen was bailed and will be sentenced on November 28.