'Kill me now if this is what I'll look like': Trial hears agony of acid attack victim who died at suicide clinic
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An engineer who died at a euthanasia clinic following an acid attack said 'kill me now' after seeing his reflection in a mirror, a court heard.
Mark Van Dongen's face and much of his body was "grotesquely scarred" and he was left "at the limits of tolerable pain" after the attack allegedly carried out by his former partner, a jury was told.
A court heard he lost most of his eyesight and had to have the lower part of his left leg amputated.
When he saw himself in a hospital mirror Mr Dongen allegedly said: "Kill me now, if this is what I am going to look like, I don't want to live."
Berlinah Wallace, 48, is charged with murdering Mr Van Dongen, 29, by leaving him with such "horrific and catastrophic injuries" he asked for assistance in ending his life. Wallace denies murder.
Bristol Crown Court heard Wallace threw acid over Mr Van Dongen's face and body in September 2015 and he died at the clinic in Belgium in January 2017.
(Image: SWNS.com)
Adam Vaitilingam QC, prosecuting, told a jury the trial was "not a typical murder case" and said Wallace had intended to cause Mr Van Dongen "really serious harm" instead of killing him.
"It was the inevitable consequence of what she did. It was exactly why she did it, to scar him for life, to make him less of a man and unable to have a relationship with another woman," he said.
"She had, in just the past few days, looked online at images of acid attack victims, she knew what a sulphuric acid attack would do to him."
The court heard Dutch-born Mr Van Dongen and Wallace, from South Africa, began a relationship in 2010 and lived together in Westbury Park, Bristol.
In August 2015, Mr Van Dongen began a relationship with another woman but was persuaded to give it "another go" with Wallace in September.
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Mr Vaitilingam said Mr Van Dongen went to stay at the flat in Westbury Park on September 22 and awoke around 3am to hear Wallace laugh and tell him: "If I can't have you, no-one else will."
Wallace then allegedly threw acid over Mr Van Dongen, who ran screaming out into the street in pain and was later taken to Southmead Hospital in Bristol.
"His face and much of his body was grotesquely scarred. He lost the sight in his left eye and most of the sight in his right eye," Mr Vaitilingam said.
"He was confined to a hospital bed, for a long time unable to move anything other than his tongue. He lost his lower left leg, which was amputated."
"We will invite you to take the view that Mark Van Dongen had euthanasia because of what Berlinah Wallace had done to him," Mr Vaitilingam told the jury.
"The doctors diagnosed that he was at the limits of tolerable pain.
"And it can be no surprise, least of all to the attacker, if someone as horrifically scarred and injured as Mark Van Dongen was, should choose to die rather than to live on in that condition."
(Image: SWNS)
Richard Smith QC, representing Wallace, a former fashion student, said his client believed the liquid she was throwing at Mr Van Dongen was water.
He said Mr Van Dongen would regularly put out a glass of water for Wallace to take her medication with, and had done so on that night.
"You will hear evidence about conversations Mr Van Dongen had about the fact he was being blackmailed," Mr Smith said.
"[There are] text exchanges from Mr Van Dongen about things very personal in his background that he feared Berlinah Wallace was going to disclose.
"He tried to make this woman drink sulphuric acid and his plan failed."
(Image: PA)
The court heard the trial was previously heard last week, when that jury was discharged due to legal reasons.
A new jury was sworn on Monday and the trial continues.
Wallace, of Westbury Park, Bristol, denies charges of murder and throwing a corrosive substance with intent.
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