My ex melted my face... we must stop evil acid attacks
Daniel’s plea to halt sale of deadly fluids
AS CHEMICAL ASSAULT TOLL RISES
Bed scorched by acid poured by evil Katie Leong a shared house with Leong and friends in Leicester. She claimed to be 36 but was 51. They began a relationship which turned toxic over her jealousy.
He planned to move out but Leong struck before he could go.
Daniel said: “I woke up, I had been sleeping alone after another argument with Katie, and as I came round it felt like she was throwing hot water on me.
“I didn’t know if it was a dream. The shock, the pain, that burning sensation. I can’t describe it. I leapt up, then I felt in my mouth that it was acid, not water. My right eye became foggy.
“Then my other eye left me. Everything went white, like I was surrounded by a very thick fog.” Leong had tipped a 500ml bottle of 96 per cent sulphuric acid over Daniel. A court heard she tested it on sausage meat first to be sure it would burn human flesh.
Daniel spent five five weeks in a coma as doctors at Nottingham City Hospital burns unit fought to save him.
His dad Dorin flew to his side. Daniel added: “I’m told he was crying like a baby, he couldn’t even recognise me. “
After five weeks, Daniel was woken from an induced coma. He said: “To my horror, police told me Katie was in jail. They suspected her of carrying out the attack. They also told me she was in her 50s, not her 30s. I slowly began to realise I didn’t know her at all.”
Daniel couldn’t move, couldn’t see, couldn’t talk and became suicidal. He was moved to a support centre where one worker, Anna, turned his life around. She saw past the scars and fell in love with Daniel – even quitting her job to avoid a professional conflict.
Anna recalls: “I enjoyed his flirting. He was funny, clever and entertaining. I enjoyed his company so much.”
Daniel said: “On our first date friends came to collect me, we picked up Anna and went for dinner. They left us in town and I kissed her for the first time.”
ANGEL
Anna, who has a son Jack, five, says the connection was instant. By May, she had become Daniel’s full-time carer and they moved in together.
Daniel said: “I was living with the devil and now I’m living with an angel. We’ve talked about marriage. I want five children but I’d be happy with two.”
But the effects of Leong’s attack endure. Daniel has had 14 operations and faces many more, including skin grafts. His voice cracks when he talks about his mother Maria, who is yet to see him. He says: “I’m afraid to go home. I’m afraid she’ll have a heart attack. The Daniel I used to be has died and I know how bad I look.”
Yet he has never seen his scars for himself as his right eye had to be removed a few weeks ago and he is blind in his left one. It means he has also never even seen his pretty girlfriend Anna.
Leong was convicted of attempted murder in March and handed a life sentence, with a minimum 17 years. Earlier this month she was ordered to pay Daniel €22,000 in compensation.
But Daniel said: “I don’t think her sentence was enough. “Thinking she could come out after 17 years is disgusting. I’m never going to be like I was before, not in 100 years. She’s shown no remorse.”
And he added: “I’m going to visit her one day.
“I’m curious to hear her side of the story, even though it will be probably be lies.”
vikki.white@trinitymirror.com Katie Piper