My story is one of betrayal and loss,
and it's only now, five years on,
that I'm ready to talk about it.
The bus took me to my bus stop, just opposite my house, Bromhall Road.
I don't know, something just caught my attention.
I just felt, like... I felt startled a little bit.
I looked to the side of me
and I remember seeing someone in just black.
I just remember seeing black
and I remember the person's face being, like, covered.
It was a very cold stare.
Before I knew it,
I just felt a hu-u-uge splash...
..and I just remember...
SHE GASPS
I immediately screamed.
I clenched onto my stuff.
I was on the phone, running down my road.
I did not look back,
and I remember, like, getting to my door and banging on my door.
BANGING
Screaming, screaming, screaming.
I was like, "It's burning! It's burning!"
Like, "Acid, acid, acid."
I just remember, like, literally, like, just humming,
just humming in my head, trying to, like...
..not freak out, and I remember when the ambulance came and...
SHE SIGHS
I just remember seeing my mum just so frozen.
So, at this point, it was the local police officers
who were trying to find out who had done this to me.
The police were even asking me,
like, "Have you ever been threatened that somebody was going
"to throw acid at you in the past?" And I said...
.."Funny enough," I said, "Yeah,
"like, someone actually has, weirdly enough,
"threatened to throw acid at me in the past."
And I explained to them, I said,
"Oh, one time, me and my friend, Mary, we fell out.
"And she threatened that she was going to throw acid at me,"
but I was like, "That was so long ago." I explained to the officer
that Mary had messaged me to see how I was and she's been calling me,
like, since I've been in the hospital, so I was, like,
"She's completely concerned."
It was six weeks after I was attacked
that Mary was brought in for questioning.
The officer did point out that she said something,
we had an argument, like, over a year ago.
And she says in that argument
that you said you wanted to throw acid in her face.
Cos that's a very particular... Mm. It's... ..thing.
I mean, acid attacks over here, especially, are very rare,
so why pick a comment like that?
I know when she told me this happened to her, I was just, like,
"Why? Why would...? Why?"
I just don't understand.
She was released from the police station.
She was given a bail date,
so I can understand how frustrated the family were.
That lady had a distinctive handbag.
And when we viewed the custody images
that we had when Mary was originally arrested,
it looked like she had exactly the same bag.
When we had her come back in on bail,
this warrant was done at the address
and the bag was recovered and, long story short,
that has traces of damage that is typical of an acidic acid.
MUSIC: Read All About It by Emeli Sande
Every single day is different.
Every single day, you learn something new.
Every single day you have to learn, you have to have a different type of
strength in different situations, like, I'm only human.
That's it. Like, I'm only human.