Acid attack victim Naomi Oni in court to give evidence against jealous friend accused of scarring her for life

The acid attack victim who was allegedly horrifically injured by one of her closest friends because she was jealous of her looks has arrived at court to give more evidence today.

Mary Konye, 21, admits disguising herself in a niqab and stalking Naomi Oni, also 21, on her way home from work, but denies she doused her in sulphuric acid.

Miss Oni yesterday described the moment she was attacked and told Snaresbrook Crown Court after she saw the damage done she thought: ‘I’m ugly, no one’s going to marry me now.'

Jurors were also shown CCTV of student Konye disguised in a Muslim veil as she followed her friend on the Tube, before she was attacked late at night on an east London street.

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, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

She said: ‘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”.’

Giving evidence, Miss Oni described how she felt a ‘presence’ behind her as she walked home.

She said: ‘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.’

The court heard that the pair had a ‘rocky relationship’ and had stopped speaking from April to September 2011 after a row over Konye sending text messages to Miss Oni’s boyfriend.