The jury in the trial of a woman accused of murdering her ex-partner after throwing acid over his face and body has been discharged.

Berlinah Wallace, 48, is accused of murdering Mark Van Dongen, 29, who was paralysed from the neck down, “grotesquely scarred” and all but blinded by the attack in September 2015.

The trial at Bristol crown court was adjourned last week by Mrs Justice May to allow a question of law “to be further considered”.

The jury of six men and six women returned to court on Wednesday to learn the judge was halting the trial and discharging them for legal reasons.

She told them: “When I adjourned this trial just over a week ago it was for the consideration of a legal matter. We cannot say for certain when it will be finalised. In these circumstances there is no option but to discharge you from further service at this trial.”

May remanded Wallace in custody and fixed a provisional trial date of 17 April next year.

The defendant, who denies the charge of murder, also faces a charge of throwing a corrosive substance with intent.

The court previously heard how Van Dongen ran out into the street screaming in pain after the attack on 23 September 2015 in the Westbury Park area of Bristol. The Dutch-born civil engineer suffered 15 months of pain before killing himself at a euthanasia clinic in Belgium on 2 January 2017.

Prosecutors say Van Dongen was driven to suicide because of the physical and mental suffering that he sustained from the acid attack and that he “could not bear to live in that condition”.

The jury heard that Van Dongen had lost the sight in his left eye and most of the sight in his right eye; his lower left leg was amputated; and that he was confined to a hospital bed and initially unable to move anything other than his tongue. While his physical condition improved a little and he regained his speech, he remained paralysed from the neck down.

Wallace claims she thought she was throwing a glass of water.