Nigerian woman charged over acid attack
A woman has been charged with throwing sulphuric acid on
a 21-year-old woman leaving her scarred for life.
Naomi Oni
aomi Oni, 21, who works for Victoria’s Secret at
Westfield in Stratford, east London had her face, arm, hand and a leg burned.
She was also temporarily blinded in the attack which
happened as she walked home from a bus stop in the early hours of December 30
last year.
Ms Oni spent almost a month in hospital while doctors
fought to save her sight and carried out skin grafts to repair the scarring to
her face.
At one point she was forced to deny rumours that the
wounds may have been self-inflicted.
Today the CPS announced that Mary Konye had been charged
in connection with the attack on Naomi and will appear in court tomorrow.
Damaris Lakin, CPS London Senior Crown Prosecutor, said
he will appear before Barkingside Magistrates Court on 1 May.
Naomi Oni suffered burns to her face, head, arm and leg
in an apparent attack in December
Mr Lakin said: ‘I concluded that there is sufficient evidence
for a realistic prospect of conviction and that it is in the public interest to
charge Ms Konye with throwing or casting a corrosive fluid with intent to burn,
maim, disfigure, disable or do grievous bodily harm.’
Ms Oni described how she got off a bus on Lodge Avenue,
Dagenham, shortly after 12.30am.
She became aware of someone behind her as she spoke to
her boyfriend, law student Ato Owede, 24, on the phone and was then sprayed in
the face with a liquid which began burning her skin.
‘I felt a presence behind me a few minutes away from home
so I turned around, not really expecting to see anybody,’ she said.
‘But I saw a person wearing a niqab, a little taller than
me. They were just staring coldly at me.
‘I was startled so I turned away. Suddenly, from nowhere,
I felt a splash on my right side and I just ran. I thought to myself, “Someone
is trying to kill me”.
‘Before I even realised, it was burning, I somehow knew
it was acid.
‘I didn’t look back, I didn’t risk it. I didn’t know if they
knew me, or my name, if they had been sent.
‘It was all so fast. I just thought to myself “this person
will not kill me, they will not take my life”.
‘I ran for my life, screaming, down the road. I was still on
the phone to Ato so I told him to call 999.’
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