20
year old Naomi Oni was disfigured for life when a unknown person
wearing a niqab threw acid in her face as she walked home from work on
Sunday December 30th in Lodge Avenue Dagenham, east London.
Naomi told The Evening Standard that she was on her way back from work when she heard someone behind her. She explains:
'I’d been working a late shift and was talking to my boyfriend about
what we were going to do for New Year when I saw this Muslim woman
wearing a niqab covering her face. I thought it was a bit strange at
that time of night, but she didn’t say anything and I kept on walking.
'Then I felt a splash on my face. It burned and I screamed out. I
started running and screaming, holding my face, all the way home. I
didn’t look back. I got home and I was screaming and banging on the
door. I was hysterical. Luckily my godmother, who is a pharmacist, was
at home with my mum and she helped me and kept dipping my face in water
and trying to calm me down until the police and ambulance got there.
'I was in shock. Saying: "Who would do that? Who would do that?" How
could anyone do this?'. Naomi recently released photos of her disfigured
face after police failed to find the person who did this to her. She's
now appealing to the public to help her catch her attacker. She said she
would never feel safe with her attacker still at large. She also said
the attack has destroyed her life
'I look in the mirror and
it just isn’t me. I’ll never look the same again. I’ve always been
outgoing and confident in my job and in my personal life, used to
getting attention for the way I dress or my hair, but now I don’t want
anyone looking at me. I don’t want people to see me in public. I don’t
want to get the Tube or the bus. If I have to go to the hospital I take a
taxi. 'I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go back to my job. I was
planning to go to college in September to study media and fashion, but I
don’t even know if I’ll be able to do that. Even with the support of my
family and friends and boyfriend I feel very alone,' she said. 'Nothing
is going to be same anymore.'
Naomi faces years of skin grafts and plastic surgery .
No comments:
Post a Comment