Engineer 'driven to die at euthanasia clinic after acid attack left him paralysed'

Engineer 'driven to die at euthanasia clinic after acid attack left him paralysed' Mark Von Dongen's ex-girlfriend threw sulphuric acid over his face after saying: "If I can't have you, no one can", a court hears.

Image: Mark Van Dongen before the alleged attack in 2015

An engineer felt compelled to die at a euthanasia clinic after his ex-lover left him paralysed from the neck down in an acid attack, a court has heard.

Mark Van Dongen, 29, chose to take his own life after he was left unrecognisable and nearly blind from the alleged assault in September 2015.

His former partner Berlinah Wallace, 48, is accused of throwing sulphuric acid over his face and body after telling him: "If I can't have you, no one else can."

Mr Van Dongen, who was born in the Netherlands, had burns to 25% of his body and also had his lower left leg amputated, the court heard.

He was granted the right to euthanasia in Belgium and died 15 months after he suffered his injuries.


Wallace, originally from South Africa, has denied a murder charge and a separate count of applying a corrosive fluid with intent.

She carried out internet searches including "can I die from drinking sulphuric acid?" before the attack, Bristol Crown Court heard.

Adam Vaitilingam QC, prosecuting, told the jury that Wallace carried out the attack at her flat in Westbury Park, Bristol.

He said: "On September 2 2015, the defendant had bought a bottle of sulphuric acid.

"She kept it in her kitchen.

"At around 3am in the morning on September 23, as Mr Van Dongen was sleeping in bed, she took the acid into the bedroom.

Image: A court sketch of Berlinah Wallace who has denied murder

"She then went into the bedroom and woke him up.

"She laughed and said 'If I can't have you, no-one else can', and she threw the glass of sulphuric acid into his face.

"Covered in burning acid, Mr Van Dongen ran out into the street in his boxer shorts, screaming for help."

A neighbour found him and put him in the shower, the court heard. He was then taken to Southmead Hospital in Bristol.

After seeing his face in the mirror, Mr Van Dongen is said to have screamed at doctors: "Kill me now. If my face is going to be left looking like this, I don't want to live."

When police asked what had caused Mr Van Dongen's injuries, Wallace replied: "Acid - I was using it to distress some fabric."

The barrister said the victim was confined to a bed for a "long time", unable to move anything other than his tongue.

He added: "Fifteen months later, deciding that he could bear it no longer, he asked a euthanasia clinic in Belgium to assist him in taking his own life."

Explaining the murder charge, Mr Vaitilingam said: "It is the prosecution case that the physical and mental suffering that he sustained from that deliberate acid attack were what drove him to euthanasia.

"Put simply, he could not bear to live in that condition. If that is right, we say, then, she is guilty of murder."

Mr Van Dongen had been an engineer in the construction industry while Wallace was a part-time fashion student at the University of West England in Bristol, the court heard.

The pair, both HIV positive, had been in a five-year relationship but split a few weeks before the alleged attack.

Mr Van Dongen then moved in with his new girlfriend Violet Farquharson, who is said to have received silent phone calls in the days leading up to September 23.

Wallace was given a police warning about harassment.

The student had been violent towards Mr Van Dongen and had threatened to stab him in the days before the alleged attack, the court heard he told colleagues.

They said he "was genuinely frightened" of her, the jury was told.