A haunting last message left by the victim of a sulphuric acid attack at the hands of his jealous ex-girlfriend reveals he blamed her entirely for his trip to a suicide clinic.
Berlinah Wallace’s attack on Mark van Dongen in 2015 left him with ‘hellish’ injuries that were so devastating he took himself to an assisted suicide clinic last January.
An audio clip obtained by the BBC reveals Mr van Dongen’s distress as he described the attack from his hospital bed, just days before ending his life.
Addressing his former partner, he said: ‘I hope you can see the way I look now. This is because of you. I will be a thing upon your conscience for now and forever.
Berlinah Wallace was acquitted of the murder of her ex-lover Mark van Dongen (pictured together) today at Bristol Crown Court but was found guilty of throwing acid on him
On Thursday, Wallace was acquitted of the engineer’s murder at Bristol Crown Court but was found guilty of throwing a corrosive substance with intent.
‘You stood at the end of my bed and you said: ‘If I can’t have you no-one can’.
‘And then you laughed, you evil woman, you laughed. And you threw sulphuric acid over me.’
On Thursday, Wallace was acquitted of the engineer’s murder at Bristol Crown Court but was found guilty of throwing a corrosive substance with intent.
The fashion student previously claimed it was just ‘bad luck’ that she threw the burning substance over the 29-year-old after he began dating another woman.
Shocking photos show the scorched bed Mr van Dongen lay in after Wallace threw acid on him in September 2015 at her Bristol home
Harrowing audio of the 999 call from a neighbour in the immediate aftermath of the attack reveals the agonising wails of Mr van Dongen.
The caller who was asked by the responder to find out what had happened heard Mr van Dongen crying in pain and saying he had been doused with acid.
‘Someone threw acid over my face, my ex threw acid over my face,’ Mr van Dongen cried before adding that he did not know where Wallace was following the attack.
Horrific scene images show the bed doused in acid, scarring Mr van Dongen so severely that senior investigators were barred from looking at photos of his injuries.
Speaking after the verdict, Mr van Dongen’s father Cornelius cried as he spoke outside the court, saying his son suffered ‘hellish pain and disabilities’.
The grieving father branded Wallace as ‘the devil personified’ and said: ‘I am very disappointed in the outcome of this trial.
‘There are only losers in this case. I hope that Mark can now rest in peace.’
The fashion student previously claimed it was just ‘bad luck’ that she threw acid over her former partner after he began dating another woman
The 29-year-old engineer’s body was covered with the toxic substance, leaving him so scarred he went to a suicide clinic last January in Belgium. This graphic shows where he was injured
Mr van Dongen’s father shook with emotion as he spoke through a Dutch interpreter.
He added: ‘Mark was so brave when confronted with the hellish pain and disabilities inflicted upon him but eventually it became too much for him to bear.
‘He died in dignity and will live on in the hearts of his family and friends.’
A jury of 10 men and two women made the decision following 15 hours and 30 minutes of deliberations.
Mark’s father Cornelius van Dongen (pictured on Tuesday) cried when the jury returned their verdicts at Bristol Crown Court
Mrs Justice Nicola Davies adjourned sentencing until next week due to the ‘extremely serious nature’ of the offence.
She will hear submissions from prosecution and defence teams on Tuesday and pass sentence on Wednesday.
Dutch-born Mr van Dongen was left paralysed and only able to move his tongue, had to have his left leg amputated, and suffered 25 per cent burns.
He lost his left eye and most of the sight in his right eye.
The Court of Appeal, in its summary of the case, described Mr van Dongen’s injuries as ‘truly dreadful’ and left him ‘terribly disfigured and in a permanent state of unbearable constant physical and psychological pain that could not be ameliorated by his doctors’.
His injuries were so disturbing that the officer leading the inquiry did not show his investigation team the graphic pictures.
It took eight months for Mr van Dongen recover enough to be interviewed at his bedside at Southmead Hospital in Bristol.
Mr van Dongen’s father spent many hours at his son’s bedside before he went to Belgium to die.
The engineer’s death application was approved by three consultants who decided he met the criteria of ‘unbearable physical and psychological suffering’.
Speaking after the verdict, Mr van Dongen’s father Cornelius (centre) cried as he spoke outside the court, saying his son suffered ‘hellish pain and disabilities’
Mr van Dongen’s father (pictured together) spent many hours at his son’s bedside before he went to Belgium to die
Wallace and Mr van Dongen had been together for five years but split up the month before the attack.
Although he was still supporting Wallace financially, Mr van Dongen began seeing another woman.
In the hours before the attack, the two tried to rekindle their romance, but at 3am on September 23, 2015, Wallace poured acid over him as he lay in bed, shouting: ‘If I can’t have you, no-one else will.’
The fashion student claimed she had bought the acid to deal with a bad smell coming from drains in her flat in Westbury Park, Bristol.
In a shocking claim, Wallace told police that Mr van Dongen had poured the acid into the glass himself – to get her to drink it.
She said in an interview: ‘You know like ”come and take your medication and go to bed,” he wanted me to, to burn my insides.’
In the days before the attack, Mr van Dongen’s new girlfriend, Violet Farquharson, had received a series of silent phone calls in the middle of the night.
Mr van Dongen met a police officer the following day, September 3, but the messages were not deemed threatening and Wallace was issued a warning.
His work colleagues recalled how Mr van Dongen was ‘scared’ of his South African girlfriend and had said she was violent.
Emergency services staff told how Mark begged them to check that his girlfriend was OK – and that he feared Wallace might be on the way to Violet’s address.
Mark Van Dongen (left) decided to end his life at a suicide clinic in Belgium. Wallace (right) denied charges of murder and throwing a corrosive substance with intent
Dutch-born Mr van Dongen told police he woke at 3am to hear Wallace laugh and tell him: ‘If I can’t have you, no-one else can,’ before the acid was thrown from this jug
Mark was treated in Southmead Hospital before being moved to a care home in Gloucester, but called his father Cornelius and begged him to take him to a euthanasia clinic.
Cornelius van Dongen cried when the jury returned their verdicts at Bristol Crown Court.
During Wallace’s cross-examination at Bristol Crown Court, Adam Vaitilingam QC read out a number of articles – later recovered after being deleted from her browsing history – that were visited by Wallace.
On September 13, Wallace searched for advice on how to get back with an ex-boyfriend but the following day asked Google ‘can I die from drink sulphuric acid’.
‘What was so interesting to you about pictures of people who had acid thrown in their faces,’ Mr Vaitilingam asked.
Wallace replied: ‘Just curiosity.’
Mr Vaitilingam told Wallace: ‘You were obsessed with these sites about people having sulphuric acid thrown in their faces.’
The fashion student (pictured) previously claimed it was just ‘bad luck’ that she threw acid over her former partner within days of viewing articles about victims of such attacks
The couple had been together for five years but split up the month before the attack and although Mark was still supporting Wallace financially, he began seeing another woman. Pictured: A court artist sketch of Wallace at the dock in early May
Wallace said: ‘No. I don’t remember looking at these articles.’
Mr Vaitilingam asked: ‘Is it just a coincidence that within a few days of reading these sites or looking at these pictures, you yourself have thrown sulphuric acid in Mark’s face?’
Wallace replied: ‘Yes. It is just a coincidence – bad luck.’
She described Mr van Dongen as ‘my best friend, my family’ and said she missed him after he left her for his new girlfriend.
During a police interview, Wallace claimed that Mr van Dongen must have placed the acid in her glass and left it by the side of the bed for her to drink.
Wallace said she did not drink from her glass and instead threw it over Mr van Dongen when he pulled on her underwear during an argument.
Mr Vaitilingam read part of one of the articles visited by Wallace in September 2015.
‘It is a story about a man tricking his partner into drinking sulphuric acid,’ he told Wallace.
‘Is it what gave you the idea for your defence in this case – I’m going to say that Mark tried to trick me and put it in my glass for me to drink?
‘That’s what gave you the idea. (You thought) ‘No-one will know it’s a story I read because I’ve deleted it from my internet history.’
Wallace replied: ‘That’s not true. Because I never read the story. Like I said, I was only clicking on images.
‘I never read any articles because I was not interested in reading them.’
When asked why Mr van Dongen would want to kill Wallace, the defendant told the court that she had ‘said nasty things to him’.
Mr Vaitilingam pointed out that on September 21, Mr van Dongen refused to give Wallace money to pay for a flight home.
Wallace bought the sulphuric acid (pictured) online on September 2, 2015, days before the attack
Pictured: The Bristol property where Wallace threw acid at Mr van Dongen
‘If Mark had wanted to be rid of you, was there something stopping him buying you a plane ticket to South Africa and waving you goodbye?’ Mr Vaitilingam asked.
Wallace replied: ‘Well he didn’t want me to go. It is so unfair to make me think what Mark was thinking in this moment.’
In text messages, Mr van Dongen said he would financially provide for Wallace through the remainder of her studies.
But after he asked Wallace not to contact him, she told him she would no longer go to university and wanted to go home.
Mr Vaitilingam told Wallace: ‘You were emotionally blackmailing Mark by telling him how devastated you were and how you couldn’t finish your course and how you were going to go back to South Africa.’
The defendant replied: ‘I find what you are saying really unkind. You have no idea how I was really feeling at the time.
‘That’s a really unkind thing to say. I couldn’t take the stress anymore. He was my family. I felt alone and I just wanted to go home.’