London - An 80-year-old Muslim man arranged for acid to be thrown in the face of his teenage ex-girlfriend in revenge for her breaking up with him, a court heard on Tuesday.
Vikki Horsman, then 19, who converted to Islam for him, had a black oil-like liquid thrown across her face and neck by a masked stranger who turned up at her front door.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, she described the sensation of her skin “blistering” and the “instant burning” as it struck her. She said it was the worst pain of her life.
Mohammed Rafiq allegedly planned the attack after becoming jealous of the teenager’s growing independence after she ended their relationship.
Horsman – who has been left badly scarred – met Rafiq when she was 14, soon after her mother, father and grandmother died within a short period of time. He initially pretended he was 45.
The pair began a sexual relationship in 2012, when she was 18, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard. The health-care worker said she felt under pressure from Rafiq to convert to his religion and did so in November last year. Horsman said: “I ate halaal, I changed my clothes. I had to pray.”
She even changed her name to Aleena Rafiq and began wearing a headscarf upon his suggestion.
Horsman, now 20, admitted to having come to “rely on him” for financial and emotional support. But due to Rafiq’s increasingly “controlling” behaviour, she ended the relationship last Christmas.
She told the court: “He did not accept it... He still thought we were in a relationship even though I told him it was over. He got very angry.”
The pensioner, from Smethwick, West Midlands, continued to visit her every day at the home she shared with Kerry Stevens, 35, another of Rafiq’s ex-girlfriends, who he began a sexual relationship with when she was 16.
Rafiq is paying at least part of the mortgage on this home in Tividale, West Midlands, where the attack happened.
Horsman said she heard Rafiq answering the door at 3pm on April 15, then muffled voices. She told the court he called her downstairs, saying a man was there for her. “I went out into the porch and shut the door behind me. I looked outside and that was when I saw the gentleman standing there,” she said. “He had a bandanna over his face and a hood, so I could only see his eyes.”
The man asked her name then held out a carrier bag that she moved to take hold of. But as she did, he hurled the black liquid with the other hand, Horsman told the jury.
“I felt a burning in my face and lips. I ran to the mirror to see what was happening.
“Then I ran to the kitchen, and splashed water over my face to try and get rid of it. I tried to call an ambulance but they couldn’t understand what I was saying, I was just screaming.”
Under cross-examination from Anthony Berry QC, representing Rafiq, she was asked what the pain felt like. She said: “Just a piercing pain, instant burning.”
Asked if it was the worst pain she had ever felt, she replied: “Yes.”
Horsman, who suffered eight percent burns across her face, chest, upper neck and upper left arm, spent five days in intensive care at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
Rafiq is accused of planning the assault along with Steven Holmes, 25, and Shannon Heaps, 22, who were both known to the victim.
Prosecutor Anthony Warner said it was Holmes who had thrown the acid. All three deny one charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and Rafiq also denies a charge of perverting the course of justice.
The trial continues.
Daily Mail