A university student was so jealous of Naomi Oni’s beauty that she threw sulphuric acid in her face in a vile copycat attack, a court heard.
"The defendant knew that Naomi had been particularly moved by Katie Piper’s ordeal"
Mary Konye, 21, is alleged to have known Naomi Oni had been “moved” by the case of Katie Piper, a model scarred in an acid attack, and so launched a copycat attack.
Gareth Patterson, prosecuting, told jurors: "Naomi will tell you about her friendship with the defendant. She will tell you how in the past they had an up and down relationship and how the defendant had admitted to her that on one occasion in anger she threatened to throw acid at Naomi.
"There was a reason why the defendant would have chosen to make such an unusual sort of threat. In the past the two of them had discussed a young woman called Katie Piper.
"Naomi and the defendant had discussed this and it appears that the defendant knew that Naomi had been particularly moved by Katie Piper’s ordeal."
"Naomi stated that she and the defendant had fallen out in the past and says that there was an occasion during a row when she called the defendant ugly.
"She says they were later back on speaking terms and that the defendant said to her that she [the defendant] had been so angry at the time that she had said to someone else that she wanted to throw acid at Naomi."
The court heard how Naomi had left work at the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, East London, at around 11.30pm. CCTV footage shows a figure in a niqab with only her eyes visible who "lingered, waiting to see the victim" and "tailed her home" on the bus.
She kept a few steps behind Naomi when she alighted at her stop and began walking home, Mr Patterson said.
He added: "All of a sudden Naomi felt a liquid being thrown into her face. She screamed and felt her face burning. She could smell her skin and hair burning."
Naomi screamed the word 'acid' and ran home, where her family tried frantically to wash the substance from her skin while they waited for an ambulance. But, despite their best efforts, Naomi lost the skin from her face, and has permanent scarring over her body.
There was "visible burning to her nose, cheeks and chin and also to her right wrist, hand, stomach area and left thigh."
Naomi spent a month in hospital, had a skin graft to her face, nearly lost her sight and suffers from significant scarring.
Konye denies the attack and, despite admitting she found Miss Oni very attractive, denies being jealous of her looks.
The case continues.