By Boluwatife Awoks
21 year old acid victim Naomi Oni was disfigured for life after an unknown person wearing a Niqāb threw acid in her face as she walked home from work on Sunday December 30th 2012 in Lodge Avenue Dagenham, East London.
Naomi only described her attacker as a woman wearing an Islamic veil. Over a year later, police has been able to identify the person behind the veil. It was her jealous 21 year old friend, Mary Konye.
According to new reports released by police and tendered in court, Mary, a student at Hertfordshire
university, disguised herself in a Niqāb, which showed only her eyes and closely followed Naomi home and allegedly poured the acid on her when they got to a deserted area. She fled the scene immediately after.
Naomi suffered horrific burns on her face and chest and was left scarred for life. Mary Konye, who has since been arrested and facing trial, had been Naomi's friend since secondary school. Mary had always been jealous of Naomi, the court heard, and when they fought Mary decided she wanted Naomi disfigured for life and attacked her with acid.
Naomi Oni's lawyer said in court today:
'Naomi will tell you about her friendship with the defendant. In particular she will tell you how in the past they had an up and down relationship and how the defendant had admitted to her that on one occasion in anger she threatened to throw acid at Naomi.
'There was a reason why the defendant would have chosen to make such an unusual sort of threat. In the past the two of them had discussed a young woman called Katie Piper.
'She was a woman who had acid thrown at her and that attack had been reported in the media.
'Naomi and the defendant had discussed this and it appears that the defendant knew that Naomi had been particularly moved by Katie Piper’s ordeal.
'Naomi stated that she and the defendant had fallen out in the past and says that there was an occasion during a row when she called the defendant ugly.
'She says that they were later back on speaking terms and importantly, that the defendant said to her that she (the defendant) had been so angry at the time that she had said to someone else, a friend of the defendant’s called Kamilah Andrews, that she (the defendant) wanted to throw acid at Naomi.
'Naomi believed that the defendant had realised just how upset she had been by Katie Piper’s horrible ordeal.'
'She could not see the face of the person, just the light-brown coloured skin around the eyes. She believed it was a female. The woman was staring at her.
'All of a sudden Naomi felt a liquid being thrown into her face. She screamed and immediately felt her face burning. She could smell her skin and hair burning. She immediately ran home.
Mary Konye denies pouring acid on Naomi. The trial continues...
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