A jealous Ghanaian woman based in the United Kingdom has been sentenced to jail for 14 years after she doused her sleeping boyfriend with acid because she mistakenly believed he was having an affair.
According to reports, Esther Afrifa, 28, bought a litre of sulphuric acid online to carry out the attack on her 29-year-old boyfriend, Kelvin Pogo.
A UK website, Evening Standard reports that she hid the corrosive by her bedside at the home they shared in Wembley, northwest London and poured it her boyfriend while he was sleeping.
Afrifa – who wrongly assumed Mr Pogo was secretly dating a university classmate – poured acid onto his chest as he was sleeping and then went to extraordinary lengths to stop him from getting emergency treatment.
More than four hours after the first attack, Afrifa carried out a devastating second attack on her already-wounded boyfriend as he lay on the sofa, pouring more of the acid on to his face and torso.
Sentencing Afrifa to 14 years at Harrow crown court, Judge Charles Bourne QC called it “a truly wicked thing to do”.
“You prepared a weapon you knew would cause extremely severe disfiguring injuries and terrible pain”, he said. “You armed yourself and deliberately followed through with that plan.”
Judge Bourne ruled Afrifa poses an ongoing danger to members of the public as he ordered her to serve at least two-thirds of the 14-year prison sentence, plus an extra three years on licence once released.
She will initially be detained in a secure hospital due to a mental health disorder that has developed since the attacks.
Afrifa, from Wembley, denied but was convicted of two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
She is likely to be deported back to Ghana after her release from prison.
