Acid attack murder trial: Victim 'driven to euthanasia'

[Nergal]

 

A woman threw acid over her former partner in an attack that left him with such "grotesque" injuries he was granted euthanasia, a court heard.

Berlinah Wallace, 49, is accused of murder and applying a corrosive fluid to Dutch engineer Mark Van Dongen in Bristol in 2015.

Mr Van Dongen ran screaming into the street in his boxer shorts with "horrific" injuries before being taken to hospital, it was said.

Ms Wallace denies both charges.

The attack on 23 September left Mr Van Dongen, 29, paralysed from the neck down, unrecognisable and all but blinded, Bristol Crown Court heard.

Ms Wallace allegedly laughed and told him "if I can't have you, no-one else can" before throwing a glass of sulphuric acid into his face.

Adam Vaitilingam QC, prosecuting, said: "It is the prosecution case that the defendant deliberately threw acid at Mr Van Dongen, intending to cause him serious harm.

"She admits throwing it but denies any intent to cause him harm. She says that she believed that what she was throwing over him was a glass of water."

'Unbearable suffering'
Mr Vaitilingam said Mr Van Dongen's "physical and mental suffering" drove him to euthanasia.

"Put simply, he could not bear to live in that condition. If that is right, we say, then she is guilty of murder," he said.

The court was told Mr Van Dongen suffered 15 months of pain before being granted euthanasia in Belgium, where his family lived, in January 2017.

"He was examined by three consultants, who confirmed that this was, in their terms, a case of unbearable physical and psychological suffering despite maximum medical support," Mr Vaitilingam added.

"They agreed that the test for euthanasia was met, and on 2 January 2017 they inserted a catheter into his heart, which brought about his immediate death."

The trial continues.