AN ACT OF PURE EVIL
Acid attacker is jailed for life
A WOMAN was jailed for life for an acid attack on her boyfriend as his father wept in court yesterday.
Berlinah Wallace, 48, was told by a judge she committed “an act of pure evil” when she threw sulphuric acid over former partner Mark van Dongen, 29, as he slept in bed.
The engineer was horrifically disfigured and died by euthanasia at a Belgian hospital last year after 15 months of excruciating pain.
Wallace was acquitted of murder but convicted of throwing a corrosive substance with intent last week following a trial at Bristol crown court. A jury heard she did online research and attacked Mark at her flat in the city in 2015 after he left her for another woman. Judge Mrs Justice Nicola Davies sentenced “sadistic” Wallace to life with a minimum of 12 years, the first life sentence passed for an acid attack. Mark’s father Cornelius, who attended every day of the trial, said afterwards: “I am pleased she is going to be locked up for twelve years, but really this is too little, as we as a family have been sentenced for life.”