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A man who allegedly ordered his nephew to attack his ex-wife with sulphuric acid and caused her ‘irreversible disfigurement’ had over the years threatened to kill her on multiple occasions, the court heard.
The 37-year-old Bahraini woman has suffered extensive chemical burns on her face, neck, arm and thighs, along with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after the horrifying incident, which the court designated as a ‘60 per cent disability’.
According to the victim, her meth addict ex-husband told her that ‘I will melt your face off’ and ‘I will ruin this face of yours that you love so much’, threatening to accost her on the street and throw ‘fire water’ (acid) on her.
He has reportedly said to multiple people ‘I will not rest until I kill her’ and even told their young son that ‘your mother’s end will be at my hand’, as they recounted in Public Prosecution hearings.
The Bahraini had previously been sentenced to six months in prison by the Lower Criminal Court for stalking his ex-wife, repeatedly harassing her and attaching a GPS tracker to her car.
His 28-year-old nephew admitted to splashing acid on the victim and targeting her in the car park of a popular mall in Manama, claiming his uncle manipulated him into doing his bidding to exact ‘revenge’ on her.
Though he was in Kuwait at the time of the attack, the ex-husband was recently extradited back to Bahrain, and has denied any involvement in the incident before High Criminal Court judges.
After the attack that took place in September, prosecutors visited the victim while hospitalised in Salmaniya Medical Complex and under treatment for chemical burns.
She testified in the hospital-based hearings that her former husband had previously threatened to do exactly what he allegedly ordered his nephew to do, but she did not take his threats seriously at the time.
“I met and married the defendant in 2011, and we have two daughters and a son,” she said. “I discovered that he was using shabu (methamphetamine) in 2017, and I tried to help him but failed.
“His shabu usage caused him to experience severe confusion, and he began to doubt me to the extent that he doubted if our children were his.
“He asked to carry out a DNA test to confirm his fatherhood of our children, and in 2021 the results proved that he was indeed their father.
“That was when we legally divorced, but his doubtfulness only increased since, and he kept following me around and stalking me to find a reason to take custody of the children.”
The victim added that the obsessed defendant submitted a false report to the police accusing her of going to night clubs and bringing her young daughters along with her, and even making them drink alcohol.
She stated that she reached out to her ex-husband’s sister, who reportedly advised her to ‘give your kids to him, or he’ll kill you’.
Although she did not heed the threats, reality struck when he told his nephew to ‘finish her off’ according to the younger defendant’s confession.
The GDN earlier reported that the woman had parked her car shortly before the assault, when her two daughters aged nine and 11 noticed a masked individual approaching, and immediately alerted their mother.
The suspect rushed towards her carrying a plastic container, the court heard, then opened the lid and threw the liquid – which was later confirmed to be sulphuric acid – on her face and clothing.
The victim sustained severe burns as the assailant fled.
According to the medical examiner’s report, the sulphuric acid attack resulted in a permanent disability, which amounts to 60 per cent, a number that takes into account both physical and psychological harm.
The attack also damaged the woman’s joints and left her with limited mobility in her wrist and two fingers.
During the investigations, police recovered a mask and a cap from the scene, from which DNA samples were taken that matched the accused, and he was tracked down and apprehended using security video footage.
Although the 41-year-old outright denied any involvement, the court heard evidence that the nephew called his uncle both before and after the incident, allegedly to inform him firstly that he was at the scene and, secondly, that the deed had been carried out.
During interrogation, the 28-year-old driver admitted to the assault, claiming it was motivated by revenge, and alleged that his retired uncle had masterminded the attack.
His lawyer claimed that he was ‘mentally ill and suggestible’, and judges ordered that he undergo psychiatric evaluation, though the hearings were adjourned for the third week in a row as the report has not yet been completed.
Sulphuric acid is highly corrosive to human tissue, fabric and even metals and rocks, and any exposure to a concentrated version leads to severe chemical burns.
Heat from sulphuric acid’s interaction with carbohydrates produces heat, which can cause secondary thermal burns.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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