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Muslim wife faces ‘death sentence’ after acid horror attack on lover
Shekhar Bhatia23 Jul 2009
The ground is scorched after a man was doused in acid in a revenge attack
Police have told a married Muslim woman she could be murdered after her lover was attacked with sulphuric acid in a London street.
Her 24-year-old lover, who is also a Muslim, had the acid poured down his throat and was stabbed by four men in an "honour attack".
The victim is not expected to live after suffering 90 per cent burns. He was blinded, had his tongue destroyed, was stabbed twice in the back, hit with bricks and had the acid thrown over him.
The Danish man, of Asian origin, is said to have "insulted" her strictly religious family, of whom some women wear the hijab. Detectives believe the family feared being shamed in their community.
Police are now discussing how best to protect the woman after Scotland Yard gave her an "Osman warning", a formal alert that she is in grave danger of being killed.
Her lover was attacked at about 2am on 2 July in Marchant Road, Leytonstone, close to a room he had rented to be near his married lover. She also lives in east London.
One witness saw the attack from her window. She told the Standard: "I saw four men lashing out and kicking him on the ground. I shouted and they ran off, then one went back and started on him again.
Another witness, Kay Dice, 52, added: “He was screaming and screaming, but he spoke little English and some people thought he may have just had too much to drink. I thought he had a huge cross on his back, but it was where his skin had peeled away.”
The man had moved into a bedsit in nearby Mayville Road a few weeks before but residents said they did not know his name.
Community leader Imtiaz Qadir, of the Active Change Foundation, said: “Honour crime happens a lot in our community, especially the Pakistani community, but we do try to educate the people.
“It's a cultural thing from back home. But this type of horrible crime is not exclusive just to Muslims, there have been cases in other religions.” The man was on life support in Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, today where his condition is thought to have worsened.
Police have arrested seven young men. Five have been freed on bail and two were still being questioned today.
More than 1,000 “Osman” warnings are issued a year. A legal ruling directing that police have a “duty of care” to issue alerts was introduced after officers failed to protect people from a teacher suffering from psychotic tendencies in 1988.
Paul Paget-Lewis shot and wounded a former pupil, Ahmet Osman, with whom he had become obsessed, and killed his father and two others.
