London Man in Hospital After Acid Attack

London
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Victoria Friedman

A 21-year-old man is in hospital after having a corrosive substance thrown in his face in northeast London.

The attack happened in the small hours of Thursday morning on Stoke Newington High Street, with police saying that the victim also had suffered knife wounds to his hands, reports The Guardian.

London’s Metropolitan Police and the London Fire Brigade were called to the scene at 2:35 am to Stoke Newington, in the borough of Hackney.

“Officers attended and found a 21-year-old man who had been assaulted, with a corrosive substance thrown over his face,” a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said.

“The man has been taken to an east London hospital.

“His injuries are not being treated as life-threatening or life-changing,” she added.

No suspects have been arrested, and investigations are ongoing.

Vitriolage attacks have been on the rise in recent years, with a London judge saying in May that it was a “serious and growing problem” in the capital.

Last year, police revealed that that the UK was now one of the world’s worst countries for acid attacks, with an average of 15 attacks every week, the vast majority taking place in London.

In one recent case, Xeneral Webster, 19, was convicted for manslaughter and sentenced to 17 years in prison after 47-year-old nurse Joanne Rand died following an acid attack.

Joanne Rand had been sitting on a bench after visiting her daughter’s grave in High Wycombe, in South East England, in June 2017 when she was splashed head to toe in full strength sulphuric acid.

The attack happened as a result of an altercation between Webster and another man, where he threatened the man with the acid, and the other man kicked the bottle out of Webster’s hand in the direction of Ms Rand.

The month prior, Berlinah Wallace was jailed for ‘life’, with a minimum of 12 years, after she threw acid on ex-boyfriend Mark van Dongen in a fit of jealously after he started a new relationship.

Mr van Dongen was left with such horrific injuries and in such emotional despair, that the 29-year-old travelled to Belgium to commit suicide by euthanasia, with is legal in that country.

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