AN engineer who died at a euthanasia clinic after he was paralysed in an acid attack used his tongue to spell out the name of his killer, his father told a jury today.

Mark Van Dongen, 29, was so badly injured he could not speak and lost the use of his fingers, so his dad helped him communicate using an alphabet on a sheet of paper.

5 Mark Van Dongen died at a euthanasia clinic after suffering horrific injuries in an acid attack Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

Kees Van Dongen said his son indicated letters with his tongue to spell out "Berlinah", the name of his ex-girlfriend.

Berlinah Wallace, 48, was initially charged with maiming Mark after she allegedly doused him with sulphuric acid in Bristol in September 2015.

She is now on trial for murder in a landmark case after he chose to end his life after 15 months of unbearable pain.

The attack left him paralysed from the neck down and robbed him of his voice and eyesight and the lower part of his leg, the court was told.

Today Mark's dad Kees, also known as Cornelius, shook with emotion in the witness stand as he gave evidence via a Dutch interpreter, the Bristol Post reports.

He told how he spent 23 and a half hours each day with his horrifically injured son until he died at the Belgian clinic in January.

At first he could not speak and it took four months to begin communicating with the alphabet on a piece of paper.

He said: "I had prepared an A4 sheet of paper with the alphabet on it. I called out all the letters and once he reached the right letter he stuck out his tongue.''

For a long time Mark had a tube in his throat, which was removed for him to be transferred to the burns department for physiotherapy.

Mark slowly began to regain his voice. His dad said: “He was looking forward to the physiotherapy, that is what mattered to him.

“It was a big step forward. He wanted to stay in England and to return to a normal life. He wanted me to return to work."

5 Kees Van Dongen gave evidence today at Bristol crown court Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

But later his son was screaming out in distress that he wanted to die, and once Kees found him lying in his own faeces.

He had his son transferred from a Gloucestershire care home to a hospital in Belgium where a team of eight doctors cared for him.

But being told his paralysis was permanent was “the straw that broke the camel’s back”, his father told the jury.

Kees said: “He completed his application for euthanasia.

“He said, ‘my life is come to nothing, there’s nothing left of it, if I come home with you there’s just a different ceiling to look at, that’s all’.”

Kees said he had treated Wallace "like my own daughter" and added: “I think he was more in love with her than she was with him.

“In the last six months Mark called the police several times, but he got no support from the police.

“He was scared, he was afraid of her. You can see what happened.”

5 Kees Van Dongen with his son Mark, who moved to England to study Credit: Just Giving

Yesterday jurors at Bristol crown court heard Mark give evidence from beyond the grave, telling how his ex-lover laughed as she threw the corrosive liquid in his face as he lay in bed.

In an police interview before his death, he told officers: "She woke me up and said, 'If I can't have you, no one can'.

"And she laughed and just threw the acid. It was a square box of acid with about an inch of acid in it. I only went back because I felt sorry for her."

He said: “It was burning like fire. I was running on the street in my boxer shorts.

"They fell off because the acid was eating away.”

Today a neighbour, Eleanor Elcocks, told the jury she heard a man screaming and wailing: "Help me I'm going to f***ing die."

Thomas Sweet said Mark's cries sounded like foxes, adding: “In a very agonised way he was saying something about acid. I thought he had taken LSD and was having a really bad time on it."

5 Berlinah Wallace sobs in the dock at Bristol crown court in this artist's sketch Credit: PA:Press Association

Dentist Nicola White was one of those who helped Mark wash off the acid in a neighbour's shower.

She said: "This man looked like someone had dipped him in clay. He was grey from his head to his chest.

“A very kind gentleman said ‘I’ve got a shower, let’s take him to my house’.”

As they went to the flat above Mark's, he pointed through the open door at Wallace and said: “She did it to me there. I told her I was leaving her and she did this to me," the court heard.

Ms White went on: “She was an Afro-Caribbean lady. She was on her mobile phone, looking down, appearing to talk. She looked very sullen and serious and it was strange.

“The man was in agony, screaming. We needed to get him to a shower.”

How is Wallace charged with murder? Mark Van Dongen died at a euthanasia clinic 15 months after he was attacked with acid and suffered life-changing injuries. This case is unusual because the defendant, Berlinah Wallace, has been charged with murder. The prosecution will argue that the mental and physical damage Mark suffered in the attack directly led to his death. Adam Vaitilingam QC will also argue that Wallace intended to cause grievous bodily harm.

PC Thomas Green and his colleague PC Matthew Griffin arrived at the scene soon after and said it smelled of "potent" chemicals.

PC Green travelled with Mark in an ambulance, and asked who had attacked him.

He told the jury: "I asked him who the offender was, to which he replied 'Berlinah.'

"He was pointing to a tattoo just below his bellybutton which said 'Berlinah.' He said 'she needs to go to prison for this'."

Dutch engineer Mark, who moved to England as a student and lived in Bristol, met Wallace in 2010 but their relationship ended five years later when he started seeing another woman, the court heard.

They were attempting to reconcile when they had a row on the night of September 22, 2015.

5 Mark's father wiped way tears as he gave evidence about his son's harrowing last months Credit: PA:Press Association

Adam Vaitlingam QC, prosecuting, said: "The defendant had bought a bottle of sulphuric acid online from Amazon.

"At around 3am, as Mark was sleeping in bed, she poured the acid into a glass.

"She then went into the bedroom, and woke him up. She laughed and said, 'If I can't have you no one will' and she threw the glass of sulphuric acid into his face.

"It covered his face and parts of his upper body and dripped onto his lower body as he moved.

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

Mark was rushed to hospital where, even with his hazy vision, he screamed after catching sight of himself: “Kill me now. If my face is going to be left looking like this I don’t want to live.”

Wallace, originally from South Africa, denies murder. She told cops Mark had poured acid in a glass and told her to drink it with tablets.

The trial continues.

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