12 years imprisonment for ruining childhood friend's life. The story of Naomi Oni

For just over a year now the media has had a close eye on the case about a jealous student who ruined her friend’s life by attacking her with sulphuric acid. The police obtained a CCTV footage which shows on December 30 2012 Naomi Oni, an employee at Victoria Secret in Westfield, on her way from work and another figure disguised in the Muslim veil, burka, around 11:30pm. Miss Oni described the attack whilst giving evidence in court in January 2014 as “a massive splash” of sulphuric acid thrown on her and ran home “screaming hysterically”. Miss Oni suffered severe burns on her chest, legs, arms and face and had to go under surgery to cover the burns.Unaware who her attacker was at the time, Miss Oni texted her friend, Mary Konye, informing her of the attack and was comforted by Miss Konye.

Miss Konye was a student at Hertfordshire University studying towards a BA degree in Accounting and Finance before she was arrested last year as the attacker of her childhood friend, Miss Oni. Miss Konye was jealous of Miss Oni’s good looks and is believed to have been jealous of her friend for years and attempted at one point to steal Miss Oni’s boyfriend. She was obsessed with Miss Oni’s life and slowly started to mimic her style and clothes.

Miss Konye was found guilty in January 2014 and sentenced yesterday to 12 years imprisonment. It was stated that Miss Konye showed no emotion throughout the trial and left the dock with an emotionless face as judge David Radford sentenced her. The judge outlined the attack as ruining Miss Oni’s life and added “This was clearly premeditated against a person who reasonably believed you were her true friend.”

The bravery of Miss Oni was celebrated at the International Awards for Women and is continuing trying to rebuild her life that was taken away from her.

Reference

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25867695

http://www.barkinganddagenhampost.co.uk/news/crime-courts/naomi_oni_dagenham_acid_attack_mary_konye_of_canning_town_jailed_for_12_years_1_3461726

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu6dSBG4fa8