TORONTO

A blind man, 57, had his throat slashed and his wallet stolen by a cruel thief who then swiped his white cane last weekend in West Hill.

After an evening out with friends, the victim said he exited a TTC bus at Morningside Ave. and Beath St. — north of Lawrence Ave. E. — and walked along a side street towards his home around 12:30 a.m. Saturday.

“There were no sidewalks, so I was walking on-street and bumped into a parked car,” Brian, who is totally blind and didn’t want his last name used, said Thursday.

He put his hand on the hood of the car to “steady” himself, then continued on.

Suddenly he was confronted by a man who accused him of damaging his car.

“I tried to pass by him and he slashed my neck, without warning,” Brian alleged.

He managed to keep walking, feeling his way with his mobility cane in one hand and feeling the gash on his neck with the other.

“I was bleeding,” Brian said, explaining the five centimetre cut just missed his jugular.

“It was close enough that it could easily have been a different outcome,” he said.

Brian said he just wanted to get home, but the terrifying ordeal was not over.

The man approached again claiming he didn’t realize Brian was blind. But rather than apologize, he allegedly took Brian’s wallet.

“I walked away again and he came up to me a third time saying he only wants the money and he’ll give back my wallet,” Brian said.

But as he waited for his wallet to be returned, the crook snatched his cane leaving him to stumble home through the darkness.

“It was stressful but I didn’t panic,” Brian said. “I was able to find my way home.”

He called Toronto Police immediately, then went to the hospital for stitches.

Amazingly, police tracked down a suspect that day.

Emilio Georgiev, 22, of Mississauga, is charged with robbery, assault causing bodily harm and fail to comply with a recognizance, Const .Jenifferjit Sidhu confirmed.

“I’m actually quite surprised they made an arrest so quickly,” Brian said, pointing out he was unable to provide a physical description.

“I described his voice, guessed at his age and education level based on his grammar and word usage, and I was able to judge his height,” the office worker said.

Despite being legally blind as a child and losing his sight entirely as a young adult, Brian said he has always felt safe in the city and he refuses to live in fear following his ordeal.

“I just want to get my life back to normal as quickly as I can,” Brian said.