A man who threw acid over his brother, leaving him with damaged vision, was jailed for three years on Friday.

And Hastings Harris has sworn to file a lawsuit against his brother, Colin Washington, for damages.

The 67-year-old's eyes were damaged and his face was scarred after 54-year-old Washington attacked him with tile cleaner last June 7 over a family dispute.

Washington was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent in March of this year.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves sentenced him to three years' imprisonment followed by three years' probation.

Mr. Harris was not present at court. He later said the sentence should have been longer and vowed to pursue his brother for damages.

The former painter said: "I am very disappointed. He should have been given more time than that. He should have gotten the maximum of what it should be.

"I am definitely not happy. My momma didn't leave anything to him and he thought he should have gotten something.

"My body is still burned up. It's healing but on a slow basis. I am still upset about it. I am definitely going to take a lawsuit out on him. I was a painter, but now I cannot work anymore."

Mr. Harris is insured through Government's health care programme for seniors, FutureCare. He added that next month he will have to go for surgery abroad to help his eyes.

Prosecutor Takiyah Burgess asked Supreme Court for between five and seven years' imprisonment for Washington.

She referred to the incident as a "deliberate and unprovoked attack". She did not comment on the sentence.

During the court case, Mr. Harris said his brother was a "very nasty person" who disputed the ownership of the Mount Hill, Pembroke home that their mother, Isabella Louise Harris left Mr. Harris and his sister.

They are a family of 11 siblings and Mr. Harris lives in the property with his mentally-ill brother Robert, who lives on Government benefits.

On the night of June 7, Mr. Harris admits to having run Washington off the property while waving a machete after arguing about family issues.

He claimed he never intended to use the machete. Washington, who uses muriatic acid for his work as a tiler, returned to the property later that night and doused Mr. Harris with it when he opened the door.

Washington, however, claimed that Mr. Harris was armed with a machete at the time and he threw the contents of a nearby bucket in self defence, not realising what was inside.

On Friday Washington apologised to the court and the community for his actions and for wasting their time. He said: "Unfortunately it was a terrible mistake I made and I can only apologise to the public and even to my brother if he was here."

Before he was sentenced, his daughter, Collice, and wife of 34 years, Julia, held back tears as they described Washington as a good father and husband.

Mrs. Washington slammed her hand on the witness stand and said: "We are not saying what he done is right. He has show remorse when he has done wrong. He made a mistake. He's hurting. I'm hurting."

Mr. Justice Greaves said he took Washington's good character and lack of previous convictions into consideration but because of the seriousness of the offence he would face prison time.

Defence lawyer Richard Horseman added: "It's an unfortunate incident and Mr. Washington is totally apologetic and hopefully he will be paroled soon and will be able to move on with life."