Image copyright Family photograph Image caption Mark van Dongen died 15 months after being attacked in Bristol

A woman threw acid over her former partner in an attack that left him with such "grotesque" injuries Belgian doctors agreed to end his life.

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, Bristol Crown Court heard.

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.

Prosecutor Adam Vaitilingam QC said 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."

Image caption Berlinah Wallace allegedly carried out the attack at her flat in Westbury Park, Bristol

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 added.

The court was told Mr van Dongen suffered 15 months of pain before being granted euthanasia in Belgium, where it is legal and where his family lives, 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."

'Cruel observation'

The court heard Mr van Dongen and Ms Wallace had been in a five-year relationship but split a few weeks before the alleged attack, with the victim moving in with his new girlfriend Violet Farquharson.

Richard Smith QC, defending Ms Wallace, told jurors it was Mr van Dongen who had poured the sulphuric acid in a glass for her to drink.

"Mark van Dongen might be the author of his own misfortune," he added.

"He planned to make her suffer, not him. If that is right then his plan has gone horrendously wrong."

Mr Smith told the jury that Mr van Dongen and Ms Wallace were physically abusive to each other and had both made claims about abuse from the other.

He added: "In the dark times of this difficult relationship there had been suggestions made to her by Mark van Dongen that she might alleviate her depression by taking sulphuric acid - a rather bizarre and cruel observation."

The case continues.</s>A woman is on trial charged with murder after an alleged sulphuric acid attack on a man who later died.

Berlinah Wallace, 48, of Ladysmith Road, Westbury Park, was charged with throwing a corrosive fluid with intention to burn, maim, disfigure, disable or do grievous bodily harm to Mark van Dongen, 29.

The alleged attack happened in Ladysmith Road in September 2015.

The matter was due to be the subject of a trial but the Crown Prosecution Service received confirmation from Mr van Dongen's father in Belgium his son had died.

Wallace then pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of murder between September 22, 2015 and Jan 3, 2017.

The trial at Bristol Crown Court is presided over by The Honourable Mrs Justice Nicola Davies.</s>An engineer who suffered horrific injuries in an acid attack allegedly carried out by his jealous ex-girlfriend died in a euthanasia clinic having decided he could not face a life of pain, her murder trial has been told.

The attack in Bristol left Mark van Dongen, 29, paralysed from the neck down, unrecognisable and all but blind.

Berlinah Wallace, 48, allegedly threw acid over his face and body after telling him: “If I can’t have you, no one else can.”

Dutch-born Van Dongen suffered 15 months of pain before being granted euthanasia in Belgium, where his family lived, in January 2017.

Wallace denies murder and applying a corrosive fluid with intent. The prosecution alleges that Van Dongen was driven to euthanasia by the physical and mental torment he suffered because of his former partner’s actions.

Adam Vaitilingam QC, prosecuting, told a jury at Bristol crown court that Wallace carried out the alleged attack at her flat in Ladysmith Road, Westbury Park.

“On 2 September 2015, the defendant had bought a bottle of sulphuric acid. She kept it in her kitchen,” Vaitilingam said. “At around 3am in the morning on 23 September, as Mr Van Dongen was sleeping in bed, she took the acid into the bedroom.

“She then went into the bedroom and woke him up. She laughed and said: ‘If I can’t have you, no one else can,’ and she threw the glass of sulphuric acid into his face.

“It covered his face and parts of his upper body and dripped on to his lower body as he moved about. Covered in burning acid, Mr Van Dongen ran out into the street in his boxer shorts, screaming for help.”

A neighbour took him upstairs, put him in a shower and called 999, and he was taken to Southmead hospital in Bristol.

“The injuries that he suffered were grotesque and horrific. His face and much of his body was grotesquely scarred,” the prosecutor said. “He lost the sight in his left eye and most of the sight in his right eye. He lost his lower left leg, which was amputated.

“He was confined to a hospital bed, for a long time unable to move anything other than his tongue. His physical condition improved a little. He regained the power of speech, though never the ability to move.

“But 15 months later, deciding that he could bear it no longer, he asked a euthanasia clinic in Belgium to assist him in taking his own life. 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.

“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.

“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.

“It is the prosecution case that the physical and mental suffering that he sustained from that deliberate acid attack were what 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.”

The high court judge Mrs Justice Nicola Davies told the jury the case was likely to attract publicity. “This case is likely to cause emotion,” she said. “Emotion cannot play any part in your deliberations. You have to put emotion to one side. Your approach to this case is to be cool, calm and objective.”

The court heard that Wallace was a part-time fashion student at the University of the West of England in Bristol, while Van Dongen worked in the construction industry. The pair had been in a five-year relationship, but split a few weeks before the alleged attack, with the victim moving in with his new girlfriend, Violet Farquharson.

Before the alleged attack, Farquharson began receiving silent phone calls and Wallace was given a police warning about harassment.

Shortly before his death, Van Dongen told his colleagues that Wallace had been violent toward him and had threatened to stab him, the court heard. They said he “was genuinely frightened” of her.

When paramedics arrived at the scene, Van Dongen was in the shower and a neighbour said it looked as though he had had grey paint poured over him, the court heard.

“He kept saying he couldn’t see and asked if he still had eyelids,” Vaitilingam said.

Police found Wallace with a paintbrush and a piece of cloth. Asked what had caused Van Dongen’s injuries, Wallace replied: “Acid. I was using it to distress some fabric.”

During police interviews, Wallace denied deliberately throwing the acid at Van Dongen, denied she had intended to hurt him and alleged that he had assaulted her.

“She said that it was Mark who had poured the acid into the glass, encouraging her to drink it with her tablets, but that she had not realised that it was acid,” Vaitilingam said.

Wallace had, however, carried out internet searches, including: “Can I die from drinking sulphuric acid?” and for news stories about people who had been victims of acid attacks, the court heard.

In hospital, Van Dongen, having seen his face in a mirror, screamed at doctors: “Kill me now. If my face is going to be left looking like this, I don’t want to live.”

Defence barrister Richard Smith told the jury Wallace had previously reported Van Dongen to police as a result of their volatile relationship.

Smith said: “It is understandable when you see someone covered in acid running from a building, you can understand that looks like a victim. It might not be all that it seems.”

By pouring the acid into the glass Van Dongen became “the author of his own misfortune”, he said.
A woman goes on trial in England accused of murdering a man who was voluntarily euthanised in Belgium after she allegedly attacked him with acid. Prosecutors say medical evidence indicates "he could not bear to live in that condition."