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| The victim before the acid bathe |
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| The CCTV Footage |
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| Jealous friend |
A British born Nigerian girl, Mary
Konye who has envied her friend, Naomi Oni for years ended up bathed her with
acid, just in a bid to snatch her boyfriend. She has been charged to court and
found guilty of the offense.
According to the information, a
Victoria's Secret worker, Naomi Oni who had acid hurled in her face said her
jealous childhood friend who attacked her spent years trying to emulate her
looks.
Naomi Oni said Mary Konye was
'obsessed' with her, attempting to steal her boyfriend before deciding to
'destroy her'.
Miss Oni, 21, said Konye - who has
been sentenced after being found guilty of the acid attack at Snaresbrook Crown
Court last March, 2014 - copied her clothes and hairstyle, even mimicking the
way she spoke, her laugh and walk.
She told The Sun: 'If I wrote texts, spoke, laughed or walked in a
certain way, she'd do that too. And she'd say "I look just like you, don't
I?"
'If police hadn't caught her, I'm sure she would have gone on to kill.'
On December 30, 2012 Konye, also 21, disguised herself in a Muslim veil to
stalk her friend as she left the Victoria's Secret store in Westfield shopping
centre in Stratford, east London, where she worked.
Shortly before Miss Oni reached her home in Dagenham, Essex, Konye doused
her with concentrated sulphuric acid, leaving her scarred for life.
CCTV footage obtained by police after the attack showed Konye in a niqab following
her as she left at the lingerie shop at around 11.30pm.
Konye faces jail after she was found guilty of the acid attack at Snaresbrook
Crown Court last Match.
Miss Oni suffered serious burns to her face and chest, lost her hair and
eyelashes, and required skin graft surgery to cover the burns. Miss Konye's
obsession with her victim began when the friends were 11 years old.
But in April 2011 they fell out after Miss Oni discovered Konye was trying
to steal her boyfriend, sending him anonymous texts claiming Miss Oni was
sleeping with other men. Miss Oni said: 'She had copied my entire life - now
she wanted my boyfriend.'
Giving evidence in court Miss Oni described how, on her way home, she got
off at her bus stop in Dagenham and felt a ‘presence’ before turning to see
someone in a niqab.
She then felt a ‘massive splash’ as the acid was thrown at her, disfiguring
her face, dissolving her hair and eyelashes and burning her tongue as she
screamed.
Describing how she felt after the attack, she said: ‘Am I a bad person? Why
has this happened to me? I work hard ... No one’s going to marry me now.’
Miss Oni also revealed that when she told her alleged attacker what had
happened, her friend texted back: ‘OMG. Can’t believe it. She also cried down
the phone to Konye, who offered her support.
Miss Oni said in court: ‘I just had my bandages removed and it was the first
time I saw my face after surgery and I broke down and I had spoken to
Mary that night and I was crying on the phone to her and she was on the
phone to me telling me, “don’t worry, you’ll be OK”.’
She added: ‘I was still on the phone to my boyfriend and I felt a presence.
I turned to my left and I saw someone and a black abaya [cloak] or a black
niqab. ‘I remember it facing me, staring. A presence directly looking at me.
All I could see was eyes.’
She then said she felt the splash as the acid was thrown in her face and ran
home shouting ‘acid, acid’. She said: ‘I immediately felt that someone was
trying to kill me and so my instinct was to run as fast as I could to get home.
‘I felt, it wasn’t burning, it was a dissolving type of sensation. It was on
my face and I remember, as I had my mouth open screaming, it burnt my
tongue.’
Mary Konye was born on 20 February 1992 in Newham, east London. Her father
died when she was just two leaving her mother a single parent looking after her
only child.
She gained eight GCSEs before studying for A-Levels in Sociology, Media,
Business and Psychology at St Angela's Ursuline School, a Catholic secondary
school for girls in Forest Gate. She spent another year at Southgate College
doing A-Level retakes before winning a place at the University of
Hertfordshire, studied accounting and finance in business.
Konye held down jobs in retail at New Look, Forever 21 and Next while
studying. She was one term and an exam away from earning a BA honours degree
when she was arrested last April for throwing acid over Miss Oni.
When she first appeared in court last May she applied on bail on the basis
she was a regular churchgoer. Naomi Oni was born just nine days earlier than
Konye on 11 February 1992 and had a far less turbulent childhood than her
friend.
They became friends from an early age and Miss Oni, blessed with good looks,
was encouraged by Konye to pursue a career in modelling and the fashion
industry. Miss Oni was less successful in her education and she dropped out of
sixth form.
She found a job at Victoria's Secret lingerie store in Westfield Stratford
City and worked there full-time until Christmas 2013. She would often be put on
late shifts, finishing at 11.30pm at night.
The aspiring make-up artist was being chased by several admirers and rowed
with Konye about the attention she was getting. After Miss Oni fell pregnant
she confided in Konye that her boyfriend at the time, was not being supportive.
Konye told him to provide the support Miss Oni needed. But Miss Oni was
angered after learning that her friend had interfered with her relationship and
the pair fell out.
Six months later they made up, but by then Konye had told college friends at
Southgate that she wanted to throw acid over Naomi and that she would wear a
niqab to disguise herself.
After becoming friends in year 8 at St Angela's Ursuline School they had a
'typical' relationship during their teenage years. Both admitted during the
trial they would regularly fall out but then patch up their differences.
