An engineer who was left paralysed and disfigured after an acid attack allegedly carried out by his jealous ex-girlfriend died in a euthanasia clinic 15 months later having decided he could not face a life of pain, her murder trial has been told.



Berlinah Wallace, 48, told Mark van Dongen: “If I can’t have you, no one can,” before pouring sulphuric acid over him, a jury at Bristol crown court was told.

Van Dongen, who had begun to see another woman, suffered 25% burns, lost a leg, his left eye and most of the sight in his right eye and was left paralysed.

He applied for euthanasia in Belgium, which was approved after three consultants examined him. It was decided his was a case of “unbearable physical and psychological suffering” and he died in January this year aged 29.

In a highly unusual case, prosecutors have charged Wallace with murder despite the victim having died with medical assistance, because they say the acid attack led to his death.



The court was told that Wallace carried out the attack after viewing graphic images of acid attack victims on the internet. She denies murder and applying a corrosive fluid.

Adam Vaitlingam QC, prosecuting, said the attack took place at 3am on 23 September 2015. He said: “The defendant had bought a bottle of sulphuric acid online from Amazon. As Mark was sleeping in bed, she poured the acid into a glass.” She woke him and threw the acid at him, it is claimed.

“It covered his face and parts of his upper body and dripped on to his lower body as he moved,” said Vaitlingam.“Covered in burning acid, Mark ran out into the street in his boxer shorts, screaming for help.”

The court heard that the couple had a five-year-relationship and lived together but Van Dongen, a Dutch national, began seeing another woman in August 2015.

Shortly before his death, Van Dongen told colleagues that Wallace had been violent towards him but the day before the attack he and Wallace exchanged messages in which they said they loved each other.

Van Dongen said: “I love you, I always have. I’m truly sorry for what I’ve done, we need to work on our relationship. You and me are meant to be. I’ve always known that. I will treat you as you deserve to be treated. You are my princess.”

Wallace replied: “It means a lot hearing these words. You are the love of my life. God does not make a mistake in this. I love you with all my heart.”

On the evening before the alleged attack, the couple planned to cook dinner together but he went out to see his new girlfriend, Violet Farquharson, the court heard.

When he returned to Wallace’s flat in Bristol at 10pm she left and said she would stay in a hotel, but she returned in the early hours and allegedly carried out the attack.

Van Dongen was rushed to Southmead hospital in Bristol and asked paramedics to “please check that my girlfriend is OK”, fearing Wallace could target Farquharson next.

Vaitlingam said: “They could see Mark had severe burns – they said it looked as though he had had grey-coloured paint poured over him and that the acid had burned through the top layer of skin.”

Dr Rachel Oaten, an emergency consultant, said Van Dongen caught sight of himself in a mirror and screamed: “Kill me now, if my face is left looking like this. I don’t want to live.”

He was kept in an isolated ward in intensive care for six months before being moved to a burns ward, spending a total of 14 months at Southmead.

Vaitlingam said: “Sometimes he said he wanted to live, at other times that he wanted to die.”

His father hired an ambulance to take him to Belgium, where doctors there confirmed he would be paralysed for life and need maximum doses of pain relief. He successfully applied for euthanasia.

After the alleged attack, police found Wallace sitting on the sofa in the living room and noted there was a glass beer mug on the floor next to a piece of cloth and what appeared to be an artist’s paintbrush.

Vaitlingam said: “The defendant was asked what the substance was that had injured Mark and she said: ‘Acid. I was using it to distress some fabric,’ and indicated to the glass, cloth and paintbrush on the floor.”

In a police interview Wallace claimed Van Dongen had assaulted her and she had poured the liquid over him as a response to his aggression.

“She said it was he who had poured the acid into the glass, encouraging her to drink it with her tablets, but that she had not realised it was acid,” Vaitlingam said.

“When she threw the contents of the glass over him, she believed it was water she was throwing.”