Acid Attack: My Story


Acid Attack: My Story

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This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.

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PHONE RINGS

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I just remember thinking, "Oh, my gosh, like, I've lost my face.

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"My skin is burnt and my eyes, like, I can't see."

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Naomi Oni says that when she saw her injured face for the first time, she

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-didn't want to live.

-A happy and confident young woman permanently

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disfigured in a deliberate, wicked and devastating act.

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I was 20 years old when I was attacked

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and you don't know anything at 20 years old.

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You're so naive.

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Like, you wouldn't think someone can do the worst to you.

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My story is one of betrayal and loss,

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and it's only now, five years on,

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that I'm ready to talk about it.

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Since my attack, I've had to do this journey to the hospital a lot.

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I have laser treatments three times a year

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and then I have to see my surgeon as well.

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-ANNOUNCEMENT:

-We are now approaching Stratford.

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It is very weird, especially passing Stratford to get to the hospital.

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Like, it's just like, "Wow.

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"I used to work here."

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Someone was able to just follow me all the way from Stratford, home to

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throw acid in my face.

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Yeah.

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Are you ready?

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Yeah? I'm starting on your forehead now.

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-How's that feel?

-OK.

-OK?

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I think I'm at the stage of acceptance, which oddly enough

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feels like the most difficult stage of the whole situation.

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Most uncomfortable.

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-Would you like a bit of ice?

-Yes, please.

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Because you've had the moment to grieve,

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you've had that moment of resentment, you've had that moment of anger,

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and now you're just left with you.

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I'm very grateful that they've...

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you know, they've taken the time out to actually be gentle with me.

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Like, you know, they get, like, I'm a young girl and it's a lot to deal

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with. Like, your physical...

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Especially your face.

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Your face. That is so much, like, to deal with and...

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Yeah.

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But five years ago, when I was 20, life was very different.

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I'd just got my first job.

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It was at Victoria's Secret, Westfield in Stratford.

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MUSIC: Titanium by David Guetta feat. Sia

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When I did get the job, I was like, "Oh, they do beauty there."

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"You guys have to put me on beauty, because that's what I like."

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So they put me on the beauty section.

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I had a boyfriend.

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I just felt like, yeah, "I'm becoming a young adult.

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"I'm getting there."

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I had Naomi on the 11th

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of February 1992.

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I was so happy. I wanted a girl.

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I wasn't expecting her to be pretty

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like that. She was very pretty. Yeah.

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My mum, she's lovely.

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Her name is Marion.

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She's albino, so she's very fair in complexion.

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It can affect their eyes as well,

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so I had to be her carer because of her eyesight.

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And especially because I'm her only child as well,

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so I've always had that, like, "I have to look out for my mum."

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MUSIC: Pretty Hurts by Beyonce

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My mum has always gone out of her way to make sure I feel comfortable

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about my physical appearance,

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because I can only imagine how she probably would have felt being a young woman

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and having people treat you according to the way you look

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physically. So, she's always wanted me to be smart, to be clever,

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to be well-spoken.

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Because when you do look different,

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the way you come across becomes more important than your physical

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appearance and it has to be, because it's how you're going to get through life.

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My name's Vida

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and I know Naomi because we are school friends.

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I just remember us being told off a lot by the teachers for not actually

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listening in class, but

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-it was fun.

-My name is Phyllis.

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I went to school with Naomi, secondary school.

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She was just a normal girl.

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We had a lot of common interests, like music and fashion

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-and celebrities and all that stuff.

-Phyllis,

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Vida, and then there was another girl called Mary,

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were my closest friends.

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But I noticed that other girls would try and find every way to make you

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feel bad about yourself.

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Girls were just mean, if I'm honest.

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Girls were very mean.

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I mean, from face value it was easy to assume it didn't bother her,

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but myself and Phyllis, Mary, we were more

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aware of how insecure she was.

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So, during break times, people might say, "Oh, look at her hair."

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Or, "Too much make-up," and she would just be like,

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"Shut up and leave me alone."

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But then in class she would get teary.

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So, Mary,

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she mentioned that she was quite bullied by the girls in the year above

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and, like, I kind of saw that in her,

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so I kind of felt protective over her and maybe sometimes she felt

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like the way people treated me was quite unfair.

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I just felt for her and it was just, like,

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natural of me to want to feel like I should protect her or be her friend.

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But I think Mary and Naomi both sought validation from each other because

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they had this common ground of, "No-one really gets me," almost,

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and they just got each other.

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Knowing that I was loved and accepted by my friends is something that I took for granted,

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but that all changed on December 29th 2012.

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I remember that day, December the 29th.

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It was Christmas time. I was just like, "Damn, everyone is at home.

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"My mum is cooking and I'm going to work. Really?"

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And I remember that day.

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I bought myself - because they were doing like Christmas sales -

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I bought myself a really nice pink, big, like,

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fluffy pink Victoria's Secret robe.

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-ANNOUNCEMENT:

-The store will be closing in five minutes.

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I remember being at work, closing up, thinking, "Oh, yeah,

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"I'm happy to be going home."

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Everybody seemed to be in a good mood.

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I...

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I...

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I did my normal journey.

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Stratford to West Ham,

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and then from West Ham, I would get the train to Barking.

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-TUBE ANNOUNCEMENT:

-The next station is Barking.

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Change for London Overground and National Rail Services.

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And then from Barking, I would just about get the last bus home.

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I finished work at 11.30, so I probably got to Barking, like, after 12.

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I remember coming out of Barking Station and I remember I was hungry.

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Like, I remember being very hungry.

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So, I was like, "OK, let me just get some chicken wings and chips

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"and I'll eat them when I get home."

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I got on my bus and while I was doing this journey, I was on the phone to my ex-boyfriend,

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just talking. I was thinking, I need the company,

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especially when it was late.

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The bus took me to my bus stop, just opposite my house, Bromhall Road.

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I just remember getting off the bus and I don't know,

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something just caught my attention.

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I just felt like startled a little bit.

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I looked to the side of me and I remember seeing someone in just black.

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I just remember seeing black and I remember the person's face being covered.

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It was a very cold stare, just a complete cold stare.

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And I just remember thinking, "Whoa," like, "OK.

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"Just cross the road and go to your house."

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Before I knew it,

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I just felt a hu-u-uge

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splash, and I just remember...

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SHE GASPS

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Like, literally like that, and I remember I immediately screamed.

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Screamed. I clenched onto my stuff.

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I was on the phone and I was screaming, like, running down my road.

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I did not look back

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and I remember getting to my door and banging on my door.

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BANGING

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Screaming, screaming, screaming.

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I was like, "It's burning! It's burning!

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"Acid, acid, acid."

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And my mum opened the door and I just saw my mum's face like...

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I went upstairs and at this time, she was in the bathroom.

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I just knew straight away that it was acid,

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and it was strong acid because of the way it smelt.

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To me, I thought my skin was dissolving.

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Like, I was just going to, I don't know, corrode away.

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So we opened the shower and just doused her in water.

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I looked down and I realised that her jeans were falling apart.

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And then I thought, "Wow.

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-"This is everywhere."

-And I could just feel the splashes of water,

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my skin is burnt.

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I just felt like, I don't know, just...

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How can I explain? You know when you put

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hot water in a glass and then you run it under a cold tap and it cracks?

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Like, it starts to break.

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That's how I felt.

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I just thought, "When can the ambulance and the police get here,

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"because I could be doing something wrong," but I just thought, "You can't go wrong with water and acid."

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Anything to dilute it.

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I just remember mucus just flowing down my face,

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like, my face was like purply, pink, green.

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I don't even know, it was just multicoloured.

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So I just remember literally

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humming, just humming in my head, trying to, like...

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not freak out, and I remember when the ambulance came

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and...

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SHE SIGHS

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I just remember seeing my mum so frozen.

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I said, "Please, Mum, go with the rest of them."

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And I told my aunt, "You need to come into the ambulance with me."

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I did not want my mum to come

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because I didn't want my mum to freak out.

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They were like, "OK, we are transferring her to Broomfield Hospital,

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"it's a burns unit."

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I was just like, "A burns unit?"

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I gave up. I don't know if my body just shut down.

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I remember coming into the hospital.

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It was like an episode of ER.

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I don't know if I was on the bed, I don't know if I was on the table.

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I just was getting poked and touched.

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And I could just hear voices in the background.

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"Burns," something, something "degree burns."

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My name is Naguib El-Muttardi,

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I am a consultant plastic reconstructive and burn surgeon,

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St Andrews Centre, Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.

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When we saw Naomi, the injuries were mainly on

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the right side of the face,

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the front of the scalp, the middle of the scalp,

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on the side of the nose, upper lip, part of the neck,

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the right forearm and hand

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and on the left thigh.

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So that was the extent of the injury.

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We usually see these attacks in young men,

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so at that time, it is not that common to have it in girls,

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but, unfortunately, she was one of those victims.

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From the beginning we knew that it is very deep.

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We knew that it is a full thickness damage to the skin,

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and she needs lots of surgeries to heal it and reconstruct it.

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So if you come across somebody who's been attacked with acid,

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I think the first thing we should do is remove any clothes

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which are soaked with the acid.

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You should cut it rather than pull it over,

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and straight away we should be starting the irrigation with water.

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This is really important in minimising the contact.

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Preventing the penetration of the acid

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should be done within ten seconds.

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The injury which acid can inflict is much more serious than a knife,

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I think.

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I think it is both physically and psychologically distressing,

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because it's a disfiguring injury.

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The one who is attempting to assault with acid, he doesn't want to kill,

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but he wants to disfigure and make permanent marks on that person.

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I can't understand why anybody would do what they did.

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I think that's when I started to actually realise the severity of

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what had actually been done to me.

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My face was... I felt like my face was literally ten times the size and my eyes were so swollen.

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I just remember mucus was always running.

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It wasn't even tears. I just remember sometimes I would have to wipe,

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like, mucus, mucus, mucus, mucus, mucus.

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That's all it was. Pus, yellow stuff just coming out of my eyes.

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I think that's when I realised it's burning my eyes.

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They said, "There's a lot of it in your eyes and we're going to have to

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"wash it out with saline."

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So, they then have to touch my skin,

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stretch my eyes open to wash a corrosive substance out of my eyes with the

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rest of my face burned.

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And I just remembered water, like, in my eye, in my eye, in my eye,

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in my eye, in my eye,

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and I'm trying to blink, but at the same time open my eyes, because I don't

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want to go blind. Like, I don't want to be blind. Like...

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that's not my portion.

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"I don't want to be blind," that's what I keep thinking.

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From the way she talks about it now, I think nobody expected that she was

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going to get her sight back.

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The prognosis for one of the eyes was really bad and they said she

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would have SOME in the other eye, I think.

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And it was only then I realised, "God, the acid...

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"it just kind of worked its way through."

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After the attack, I had two major facial reconstruction surgeries.

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They took skin from my thighs to replace skin damaged on my arm, shoulder,

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other thigh and almost half of my face.

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No-one actually really showed me how to put make-up on as a burn survivor.

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I kind of had to practise, practise, practise as I went along.

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So, this is like the most important process of my make-up, because

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obviously it helps

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bring my complexion.

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I try to match my

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foundation as close to my neck as possible.

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When you're rubbing it, you have to be careful because it's not like skin, is it?

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It's skin that was taken from my thigh to be put on my face,

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so if you cut your skin it's not going to grow back.

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I lost my eyelids,

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so they had to take skin from behind my ears to create an eyelid.

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I don't know if you can see that round shape.

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They kind of had to create eyelids for me.

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I used to look in the mirror and I would just feel so hurt.

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So, so hurt that...

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..this thing is so destructive,

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it's actually made me look unrecognisable.

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Initially my face was quite flat.

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I remember my nose and under my eye were literally the same level.

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So when I had to do my make-up, I'd have to do so much contouring to

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basically make my face more 3D.

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So, yeah, I would say I've come a very long way.

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A week after the attack, I was still in hospital,

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not knowing who had done this to me and not being able to see.

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But then my eyes started to open a bit.

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My vision became like patches, like little dots,

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and I think there was a day where,

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you know, when your screen is black and I was picking it up to use it,

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and I remember I caught my reflection

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and I was just like...

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I was a bit scared. I was like, "That does not look like me."

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So, at this point, it was the local police officers

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who were trying to find out who had done this to me.

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The police were even asking me,

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like, "Have you ever been threatened that somebody was going

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"to throw acid at you in the past?" And I said...

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"Funny enough," I said, "Yeah,

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"like, someone actually has weirdly enough threatened to throw acid at me in the past."

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And I explained to them, I said,

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"Oh, one time, me and my friend Mary, we fell out.

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"And she threatened that she was going to throw acid at me," but I was like,

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"That was so long ago." I explained to the officer

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that Mary had messaged me to see how I was and she's been calling me, like,

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since I've been in the hospital. So I was, like, she's completely concerned,

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like, that I'm in the hospital.

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Like, that's a friend, because that's how a friend reacts.

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It happens the day before New Year's Eve,

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when resources are low in any case.

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And Naomi was the only witness to the offence.

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It is not an easy investigation for the officers to deal with

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and this went to the local police.

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There was extensive house to house done.

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But there was nobody that saw anything

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apart from Naomi screaming down the street

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as a result of this attack.

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So, trying to prove who actually carried out this offence is very

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difficult. The identification goes out the window.

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We're talking about an incident that happens in the middle of the night,

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you have street lighting to rely on

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and the suspect was wearing a full niqab,

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which only allowed the...

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the eyes to be shown.

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It was six weeks after I was attacked that Mary

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was brought in for questioning.

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The time now is 13.29 on February 22nd 2013.

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Eventually, local officers arrested Mary.

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They had arrested her on the basis that Naomi had said her friend had

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-threatened her before.

-Do you want to tell me how you know Naomi?

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Yeah, I've know Naomi since secondary school.

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How would you describe your relationship with Naomi?

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Yeah, I think we're quite close, like, we speak regularly on the phone.

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The officer did point out that she said something,

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we had an argument over a year ago.

0:21:580:22:00

And she says in the argument

0:22:000:22:01

that you said you wanted to throw acid in her face.

0:22:010:22:04

Acid? No.

0:22:050:22:07

Because that's a very particular...

0:22:070:22:09

-It's...

-..thing, I mean, acid attacks over here, especially, are very rare,

0:22:090:22:15

so why pick a comment like that?

0:22:150:22:18

I cannot remember saying that.

0:22:180:22:21

I know when she told me this happened to her, I was just, like...

0:22:210:22:23

why? Why would...?

0:22:230:22:25

Why? I just don't understand.

0:22:250:22:27

She said they had had disagreements in the past,

0:22:270:22:31

but it's like friends and they fall in, fall out

0:22:310:22:34

and there wasn't any other evidence to really tie Mary into it

0:22:340:22:38

from the borough perspective.

0:22:380:22:40

She was released from the police station.

0:22:410:22:44

She was given a bail date,

0:22:440:22:45

so I can understand how frustrated the family were.

0:22:450:22:49

Two months and really,

0:22:490:22:51

there's nothing that you could hang your hat on

0:22:510:22:54

for progress in that investigation.

0:22:540:22:57

I just remember thinking, "Oh, I've lost my face.

0:22:590:23:03

"I'm going to be bald.

0:23:030:23:05

"I'm not going to have eyebrows

0:23:050:23:07

"and I'm going to have thighs for a face."

0:23:070:23:09

And I remember when, like, people would ask me, like,

0:23:110:23:13

"It must be somebody close to you, somebody close to you,

0:23:130:23:15

"somebody close to you." And I was like, "People I know, like,

0:23:150:23:18

"wouldn't do anything like that to me."

0:23:180:23:20

Anyone that knows me, I don't think is crazy enough.

0:23:200:23:22

People just ask, "Was she rowing about a boy?"

0:23:230:23:26

And I said, "Not that I know of."

0:23:260:23:28

I thought, "Do you know what? She's just a normal kid."

0:23:280:23:32

There was nothing way out.

0:23:320:23:35

The police were even asking me, like, "Oh, have you ever been in a gang?"

0:23:350:23:39

And that's when I started to think "Oh..."

0:23:390:23:43

Like, things are just making a turn for the worse.

0:23:430:23:45

It became, "Tell us the truth.

0:23:450:23:47

"Have you ever been in a gang?"

0:23:470:23:49

So when the police came and asked certain questions,

0:23:490:23:53

it was hard not to think they were fishing for information, but again,

0:23:530:24:00

I tried to be objective and thought, "You know what?

0:24:000:24:03

"They have to pursue all their lines of inquiry."

0:24:030:24:06

I had been in hospital for weeks and I was just about to be discharged.

0:24:080:24:13

The police had taken my laptop and found some of my Google searches

0:24:130:24:16

on Katie Piper and eyelid surgery.

0:24:160:24:18

So, the police found these things

0:24:190:24:21

and that led them to, like, investigating me.

0:24:210:24:25

Like, if I did it, if I threw acid on myself.

0:24:250:24:29

My uncle just said, "The way it's looking, it's not looking good.

0:24:290:24:32

"They're not coming to us with any information,

0:24:320:24:34

"so let us go to the press."

0:24:340:24:38

What I can't believe is that you

0:24:390:24:40

were just discharged a week and a half ago.

0:24:400:24:42

I mean, you've had such an ordeal.

0:24:420:24:45

How many operations have you had?

0:24:450:24:47

I had two within four weeks.

0:24:470:24:49

This person is still out there?

0:24:500:24:52

-Yes.

-And police don't know who they are?

0:24:520:24:54

-No.

-What the motive was?

0:24:540:24:56

There's no clue as to the motive?

0:24:560:24:57

-No.

-So they have to remain open-minded

0:24:570:25:00

about what happened that night?

0:25:000:25:02

Yes.

0:25:020:25:04

What do you say to them, if they happen to be watching?

0:25:040:25:07

Just, I just want them to realise the pain

0:25:070:25:10

they've put myself and my family through.

0:25:100:25:12

And I hope they don't do this to anybody else,

0:25:120:25:15

and I just want them to know that whatever they tried to do to me,

0:25:150:25:18

they failed in doing what they were doing and actually they made me a

0:25:180:25:22

stronger person.

0:25:220:25:23

I'm actually happy.

0:25:230:25:26

And whoever they are, if they can just come out

0:25:260:25:28

and just reveal themselves,

0:25:280:25:30

I'd like to know, you know, why? I don't hate them.

0:25:300:25:32

-I just want to know why.

-Oh, gosh...

0:25:320:25:35

-Come over here.

-Come here.

-Oh, dear.

0:25:350:25:37

-SOBBING: Thank you.

-Oh, not at all.

0:25:370:25:38

You sit there like that and hopefully, at some stage,

0:25:380:25:41

you'll be able to get some sort of an answer as to why this happened and why they did this to you.

0:25:410:25:44

-I hope so, too.

-And hopefully someone will catch them so they don't do it to

0:25:440:25:47

-anybody else.

-Exactly. I don't want them to do it to anyone else.

0:25:470:25:50

I don't want other girls or other people having to go through what I've gone through.

0:25:500:25:54

At Scotland Yard there's big media type rooms there,

0:25:550:25:59

where they monitor television...

0:25:590:26:02

constantly.

0:26:020:26:04

And this came up on a morning show, I believe,

0:26:040:26:08

Philip Schofield-type thing.

0:26:080:26:11

And you have a young lady on there that's clearly been the subject of an attack,

0:26:110:26:17

and then that rings alarm bells at Scotland Yard.

0:26:170:26:21

And it just so happened that when the request came in

0:26:210:26:24

from Scotland Yard for this particular case to be reviewed,

0:26:240:26:28

it was my team that was on-call.

0:26:280:26:31

I do feel like the press interest made the police up their game

0:26:310:26:34

and relook into the situation, and that this situation is, you know,

0:26:340:26:40

for it to go to the homicide team, that's pretty serious.

0:26:400:26:43

After my attack, I didn't really get in touch with my friends.

0:26:470:26:51

I didn't want to talk to many people.

0:26:510:26:53

Vida and Phyllis were out of London at university,

0:26:530:26:56

so they only found out when I went public.

0:26:560:26:58

Naomi Oni - a happy and confident young woman,

0:27:020:27:05

who dreamed of working in the beauty industry,

0:27:050:27:08

permanently disfigured in a

0:27:080:27:10

deliberate, wicked and devastating act.

0:27:100:27:13

I remember it very clearly.

0:27:140:27:16

I was on the way home. My phone is always on vibrate.

0:27:160:27:18

-I just remember my phone kind of...

-SHE BUZZES

0:27:180:27:21

..all the time.

0:27:210:27:22

And then I got a call from my cousin.

0:27:220:27:24

And he's like, "Why haven't you looked at my WhatsApp?

0:27:240:27:27

"You haven't said anything." I said "Why? Why?"

0:27:270:27:29

"Look at WhatsApp." I looked at my WhatsApp

0:27:290:27:31

and there was, literally, message after message. It just said, "Victoria's Secret."

0:27:310:27:34

It was like a link and it said, "Victoria's Secret."

0:27:340:27:36

And I kind of thought, "What is this?"

0:27:360:27:38

And I clicked on it. And I just remember seeing the image

0:27:380:27:41

and thinking, "Oh, my God.

0:27:410:27:44

"Oh, my God."

0:27:440:27:45

I saw the pictures that came out when she was in hospital

0:27:470:27:49

and it was still black.

0:27:490:27:51

I was thinking, "No-one deserves that."

0:27:510:27:54

Like, I wouldn't even wish that on my enemy,

0:27:540:27:56

but no-one deserves that.

0:27:560:27:58

And I thought, "I swear I just saw her, like, less than a month ago.

0:27:590:28:02

"And she's like a different person now."

0:28:020:28:07

Yeah...

0:28:090:28:10

My face was black.

0:28:100:28:13

My eyes were swollen.

0:28:130:28:15

I was terrified.

0:28:160:28:18

And I remember when I came out into the press,

0:28:180:28:21

and obviously people had seen, like, on the news and stuff.

0:28:210:28:25

And I remember Mary messaging me saying, "Oh, my gosh.

0:28:250:28:28

"It doesn't even look like you."

0:28:280:28:30

I just kept thinking, "Who would do that?"

0:28:340:28:36

Then the press found out that the police had this theory I'd done this to myself

0:28:380:28:42

and that was all they seemed to focus on.

0:28:420:28:44

I don't understand.

0:28:460:28:47

Why am I in the hospital? Why is this happening to me?

0:28:470:28:49

You know, why was I even attacked in the first place? Who did this?

0:28:490:28:52

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

0:28:520:28:55

But instead, all the questions

0:28:550:28:58

ended up on me.

0:28:580:29:00

When they said Naomi did it to herself, like, I just thought,

0:29:040:29:08

"I can't believe they're saying that."

0:29:080:29:09

Naomi is not the type, she's not, she would never do that herself.

0:29:090:29:13

I don't know anyone that would actually do that to themselves.

0:29:130:29:16

There was a whole story about some celebrity person

0:29:160:29:19

who had acid poured on her face

0:29:190:29:21

and people were drawing parallels, and I'm just thinking, "Wow."

0:29:210:29:24

You know, where did that all come from?

0:29:240:29:27

It was portrayed in the media that,

0:29:270:29:30

because she was researching Katie Piper,

0:29:300:29:33

then, you know, she almost planned it because she saw, like, the outcome for

0:29:330:29:37

Katie Piper's life after and thought, "Oh, maybe if I did this to myself..."

0:29:370:29:42

And it's terrible

0:29:420:29:44

to say that somebody would attack themselves to look like

0:29:440:29:47

or to be like a survivor.

0:29:470:29:50

It is not a joke.

0:29:500:29:52

It was tough hearing, like, kind of nonsense, can I say,

0:29:540:29:57

like, kind of being put out about

0:29:570:30:02

who my friend is as a person.

0:30:020:30:03

It's like, do you really want to hear my story or are you looking

0:30:030:30:08

for a secret that I'm hiding or me to say something extra?

0:30:080:30:13

Like, I was attacked on my way home from work.

0:30:130:30:16

That's all I know.

0:30:160:30:18

Like, I was attacked on my way home from work.

0:30:180:30:21

I did not know what somebody else had in store for me.

0:30:210:30:23

Two months after the attack,

0:30:260:30:27

and the homicide team are now leading the investigation.

0:30:270:30:30

We went straight back to the start,

0:30:310:30:34

right back to the very beginning, examining every piece of CCTV.

0:30:340:30:38

And it was very shortly after we started that,

0:30:380:30:42

that we picked Naomi up, coming through Barking Station.

0:30:420:30:46

And then you keep watching it,

0:30:460:30:47

and then you see a woman walking through the same barriers

0:30:470:30:52

ten, 15 seconds behind, wearing a full niqab, following Naomi.

0:30:520:30:56

It was almost like we're trying to be detectives.

0:30:580:31:00

We were trying to work it out ourselves,

0:31:000:31:02

it's like, "Who would do that though?

0:31:020:31:04

"Like, is it someone we know?"

0:31:040:31:05

Is it this? Is it that? Is it that?

0:31:050:31:06

And we just kind of, everyone, every name kind of popped up and then,

0:31:060:31:10

a particular name popped up and it was just like, no.

0:31:100:31:13

Then, we were kind of silent on the phone, like...

0:31:130:31:15

Vida called me.

0:31:150:31:18

And we were just talking about the whole situation.

0:31:180:31:20

And we just said to each other, "What if it's Mary?"

0:31:220:31:24

Without seeing any, without anything.

0:31:240:31:27

Mary could be quite unpredictable.

0:31:270:31:29

She came from being polite and quite well-spoken to just being quite

0:31:290:31:34

passive aggressive and unresponsive almost.

0:31:340:31:38

Back in school, like, you'd be scared of Mary.

0:31:380:31:41

Not because you're scared that she's going to beat you up or...

0:31:410:31:44

It was just, there was just something about her that was just scary.

0:31:440:31:48

You then go backwards again to a previous station

0:31:490:31:53

and you see her coming out with her friends.

0:31:530:31:56

And at a bit more of a distance this time,

0:31:560:31:59

you see the same figure in a niqab appearing to mirror Naomi's movements.

0:31:590:32:04

And everyone's like, "Oh, it must be her, it must be her."

0:32:040:32:07

And it's like, "No, no." But everyone was, like, saying it,

0:32:070:32:10

but convincing themselves, "No, no, no.

0:32:100:32:11

"We don't want it to be true.

0:32:110:32:13

"We don't want it to be true at all."

0:32:130:32:15

This person is present at Westfield shopping centre,

0:32:150:32:19

all the way through to Barking Station.

0:32:190:32:21

And then, they both head off together towards the bus.

0:32:220:32:26

So when you piece all this together,

0:32:260:32:28

you have verification of what Naomi's been telling us all along.

0:32:280:32:31

That lady had a distinctive handbag.

0:32:320:32:36

And when we reviewed the custody images

0:32:370:32:41

that we had when Mary was originally arrested,

0:32:410:32:45

it looked like she had exactly the same bag.

0:32:450:32:48

And then you got thinking, "No, no.

0:32:520:32:55

"This looks like it's got potential."

0:32:550:32:58

When we had her come back in on bail,

0:33:000:33:02

this warrant was done at the address

0:33:020:33:05

and the bag was recovered and, long story short,

0:33:050:33:09

it has traces of damage that is typical of an acidic acid.

0:33:090:33:16

And she changed her status on WhatsApp following the attack to Freddy Krueger.

0:33:160:33:24

And a, "Who looks like Wrong Turn now?"

0:33:240:33:27

Pretty quickly, she removes that,

0:33:270:33:30

but not before several people have seen it.

0:33:300:33:33

Why would you do that? That just shows you

0:33:330:33:35

what a cold, calculating woman she is.

0:33:350:33:38

I didn't hear much

0:33:380:33:40

and then, all of a sudden, we heard that they might have somebody.

0:33:400:33:43

And we thought, "Who?"

0:33:440:33:46

And they said it was somebody she knew, it was a friend.

0:33:460:33:49

And I thought, "No..."

0:33:490:33:51

I can't remember who called me,

0:33:510:33:53

and she was like, "Oh, my God!

0:33:530:33:55

"You'll never guess who."

0:33:550:33:57

I said, "Don't tell me.

0:33:570:33:59

"Don't tell me." It's like, "Yeah, it's Mary."

0:33:590:34:03

I wasn't shocked at all that it was Mary that did it,

0:34:030:34:07

even though it was her friend, but...

0:34:070:34:09

I wasn't shocked.

0:34:090:34:10

They were, like, "Naomi, we're afraid to tell you that Mary is

0:34:140:34:20

"the person behind the niqab."

0:34:200:34:23

And I just remember being so distraught.

0:34:250:34:27

I thought she was my friend.

0:34:300:34:33

And I couldn't understand why she did what she did.

0:34:330:34:38

Like, I just...

0:34:380:34:39

I couldn't understand it.

0:34:410:34:43

The next time I saw Mary was when I had to face her in court.

0:34:530:34:56

I wanted to look her in the eyes to know whether she'd really thrown the

0:34:560:34:59

acid at me and why.

0:34:590:35:01

Realising somebody that you thought was your friend isn't your friend,

0:35:020:35:07

it's a grief, yeah.

0:35:070:35:08

And actually, like, to be betrayed, like, I was...

0:35:110:35:16

For someone to lead you to your destruction basically...

0:35:170:35:21

..I was heartbroken. Just, everything all at once.

0:35:230:35:27

Mary Konye took the stand.

0:35:310:35:34

Her defence formed around a line that had come out in the press about

0:35:340:35:38

the self-infliction.

0:35:380:35:39

Mary actually threw it because Naomi wanted her to throw it,

0:35:400:35:44

so Naomi got publicity.

0:35:440:35:46

And she was actually saying it to me, like, in such a strict way.

0:35:460:35:48

Like, "You threw it on yourself and you didn't think it would hit your

0:35:480:35:52

face." And I just thought, "Is this a joke?"

0:35:520:35:56

Like, "Are we all going to act like we're not adults?"

0:35:560:35:59

Who in their right mind would pour acid on themselves?

0:35:590:36:03

And that's the crux of the matter.

0:36:030:36:05

Would you do that to yourself?

0:36:050:36:07

She was... There were even times where she said,

0:36:070:36:09

"Oh, she remembers that night calling me and we were on the phone.

0:36:090:36:13

"And we were making, like, arrangements."

0:36:130:36:15

She latched onto certain aspects and certain stories that were in the

0:36:150:36:19

press and pieced together a defence around that,

0:36:190:36:23

but there was nothing to ever substantiate and support

0:36:230:36:27

this type of theory that they had hatched a plot together.

0:36:270:36:30

We had to prove that the person that was coming through the gate following

0:36:330:36:38

Naomi in the niqab was one and the same person, that was Mary Konye.

0:36:380:36:43

Yes, the bag, was one thing,

0:36:430:36:45

but there was something else individually specific to Mary Konye.

0:36:450:36:50

When I saw the CCTV, I knew straight away that it was Mary.

0:36:520:36:56

Mary has a distinctive walk.

0:36:560:36:59

She's always had it. It was Mary.

0:36:590:37:01

She puts weight on one side of the foot rather than the other

0:37:020:37:06

and it gives her a roll.

0:37:060:37:08

So we had an expert in gait analysis analyse the imagery that we had from

0:37:080:37:15

the CCTV, and comparing it,

0:37:150:37:18

the woman in the niqab to the woman in the custody office,

0:37:180:37:22

that it was one and the same person.

0:37:220:37:23

I think Mary is a very calculating person.

0:37:260:37:29

Devoid of any empathy or remorse.

0:37:300:37:33

After the incident, she even went to Naomi's birthday party that the

0:37:340:37:38

family arranged and she sat there and she's talking to the family,

0:37:380:37:42

she's talking to Naomi,

0:37:420:37:44

offering her sympathy, and for someone to do that,

0:37:440:37:47

you've got to be a very cold and calculating type of person.

0:37:470:37:50

I didn't know she was like that.

0:37:530:37:54

I was just shocked. I think more than anything, I was shocked.

0:37:540:37:57

And I was actually scared. Not even scared of her,

0:37:570:38:01

but scared of how I could really think that I knew somebody

0:38:010:38:05

for about ten years, to realise that I didn't know them at all.

0:38:050:38:10

Like, what is it that I was missing out on?

0:38:140:38:16

Like, how could I have avoided this?

0:38:160:38:19

There was an intense love.

0:38:210:38:24

It was motherly, it was sisterly...

0:38:240:38:27

romantically, maybe, at some point?

0:38:270:38:29

I don't know.

0:38:290:38:31

But then there was something in the middle of it that just was sour.

0:38:310:38:36

But it was almost like, when you love something so much,

0:38:360:38:39

there's going to be something about it that you hate

0:38:390:38:42

and that hate can just

0:38:420:38:44

make you do crazy things, I think.

0:38:440:38:46

So, Mary is a dark-skinned girl.

0:38:470:38:50

I've always thought she was a beautiful person,

0:38:510:38:54

a beautiful girl, but she didn't feel that way.

0:38:540:38:57

Her mum's of, like, a lighter-skinned complexion.

0:38:570:38:59

Her sisters were of a light-skinned complexion.

0:38:590:39:02

So maybe that caused her a lot of frustration.

0:39:020:39:04

A lot of black women feel that the lighter you are,

0:39:050:39:09

the more better-looking you can be.

0:39:090:39:11

Obviously you can't really change your features, but...

0:39:110:39:15

people just feel that to look better is to be fairer.

0:39:150:39:18

Which I don't think is true.

0:39:180:39:20

But I think that probably was a big thing for her.

0:39:200:39:23

When I saw Mary, I just...

0:39:230:39:26

I'd noticed she'd gone lighter.

0:39:260:39:27

Quite lighter,

0:39:270:39:30

and Naomi is light-skinned

0:39:300:39:32

and I know that they're friends.

0:39:320:39:33

So I just assumed that, OK, she's trying to look more like Naomi.

0:39:330:39:38

That's what I... That's what I felt.

0:39:380:39:40

The court heard Konye had disguised herself

0:39:400:39:43

and carried out the attack out of jealousy.

0:39:430:39:46

I don't honestly understand her type of person.

0:39:470:39:51

I really don't.

0:39:510:39:53

To this day, like, even the thought of her boggles my mind.

0:39:530:39:57

To me, a friend is somebody who loves you despite your flaws

0:39:570:40:03

and that's what friends should be like.

0:40:030:40:06

And when I looked at her, I was like, yeah,

0:40:060:40:07

like, this is a person who I thought was my friend

0:40:070:40:10

and she's just a big coward.

0:40:100:40:13

Mary Konye, the suspect, has now been found guilty of the throwing of

0:40:140:40:20

a caustic liquid with intent to maim, disfigure.

0:40:200:40:24

All resulting from a trivial, insignificant argument that

0:40:240:40:30

everybody has in their everyday lives.

0:40:300:40:32

But Mary Konye has taken it so far that she has planned this,

0:40:320:40:37

disguised herself,

0:40:370:40:39

and followed Naomi on that night on the 29th of December 2012.

0:40:390:40:46

I wouldn't even want an apology,

0:40:460:40:48

because an apology now would be an insult.

0:40:480:40:51

What kind of an apology could she possibly give

0:40:530:40:56

when she knew what she was doing?

0:40:560:40:58

MUSIC: Diamonds by Rihanna

0:41:020:41:10

I met up with Naomi, I guess, a couple of months after and, literally, we...

0:41:110:41:16

I mean, it was funny, because I think for, like, 30 seconds

0:41:160:41:19

I just froze.

0:41:190:41:20

I was like, "Hi..." And she was like, "Hey," and hugged me and then we just kind

0:41:200:41:25

of stared at each other for like 30 seconds and didn't say anything.

0:41:250:41:28

I could hear her voice, I knew it was her.

0:41:300:41:32

She smelled the same,

0:41:320:41:34

she laughed the same.

0:41:340:41:35

It's almost like when I was looking at her face,

0:41:370:41:39

I was almost, like, in my mind moulding the Year Eight Naomi I cuddled.

0:41:390:41:44

But I just saw her heart still

0:41:460:41:48

and I was like, "She's still beautiful to me."

0:41:480:41:51

I think I remember writing that on her wall on Facebook.

0:41:510:41:53

Like, "You're still one of the most beautiful girls I've ever met."

0:41:530:41:57

Hi!

0:41:570:41:59

Ah, hi!

0:42:000:42:02

-Hi, Doll.

-How are you?

0:42:020:42:05

I'm good.

0:42:050:42:07

Look what I found.

0:42:090:42:11

-School pictures.

-Yeah, pictures.

0:42:110:42:13

Look at my weave.

0:42:130:42:14

You guys are not real friends, because this is not nice.

0:42:140:42:18

I like this picture.

0:42:180:42:19

Look what else I found, this one.

0:42:200:42:22

I have some pictures.

0:42:250:42:27

This is a picture of me.

0:42:270:42:29

You always laugh at this picture!

0:42:290:42:31

Every time I show... I used to bring this picture to school

0:42:310:42:34

and Phyllis used to be like, "Look at Naomi's cheeks."

0:42:340:42:36

-Wow... So cute.

-Look.

-I like this picture. And then look at this person.

0:42:360:42:41

Wow... She's just segregating herself.

0:42:410:42:44

And look, even look at the way she's looking at him, like...

0:42:440:42:47

-It's weird, isn't it?

-I like my outfit.

0:42:470:42:49

Yeah, you look cute, girl.

0:42:490:42:51

I don't know who I thought I was, but, yeah.

0:42:510:42:54

Aw, I love all these pictures.

0:42:540:42:55

Yeah, good photos, good photos.

0:42:570:42:59

-Memories.

-Memories.

-Yeah.

0:42:590:43:02

MUSIC: Read All About It by Emeli Sande

0:43:050:43:09

Every single day is different.

0:43:170:43:19

Every single day you learn something new.

0:43:190:43:23

Every single day you have to learn, you have to have a different type of

0:43:230:43:25

strength in different situations like...

0:43:250:43:28

it's hard. It's hard and just knowing the difference of how you're even

0:43:280:43:33

being treated when you go out,

0:43:330:43:35

and the way people look at you and the way people stare at you.

0:43:350:43:37

20 years, I didn't have to deal with that.

0:43:370:43:39

Like, and I have to deal with that now.

0:43:390:43:42

And no man is an island.

0:43:420:43:44

Like, I'm only human.

0:43:440:43:48

That's it. Like, I'm only human.

0:43:480:43:50

That was a nice conversation.

0:43:520:43:53

-Good.

-I liked that.

0:43:540:43:56

-Good.

-Yeah.

0:43:560:43:58

I liked that.

0:43:580:44:00

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