Acid attack victim Mark van Dongen 'very scared' of ex

Cornelius van Dongen (l) gave evidence for one hour at Bristol Crown Court

The father of a man who had acid thrown over him by his former partner said his son told him he was "scared, very scared" of her.

Berlinah Wallace, 48, is charged with murder and applying a corrosive fluid to Dutch engineer Mark van Dongen in Bristol in 2015.

Cornelius Van Dongen told the court of a series of phone calls with his son and how he advised him to call police.

Ms Wallace denies both charges.

Berlinah Wallace says she believed she was throwing a glass of water

Mark van Dongen, 29, was left paralysed from the neck down and lost his left leg, ear and eye following the attack in September 2015.

He ended his life in a Belgian euthanasia clinic 15 months later.

Speaking through an interpreter, Cornelius van Dongen said in one phone call his son told him how "very scared" he was of her.

"I told Mark to call the police," he said.

When asked by prosecutor, Adam Vaitilingam QC, why this was, he said she had poured boiling water over him, "that's why he was scared".

In a second call, his father told Bristol Crown Court, his son said he had called police because he was "scared, very scared" of her.

Mark van Dongen was granted euthanasia 15 months after being attacked in Bristol

The jury was told when Mr van Dongen was discharged from hospital he was transferred to a care home in Gloucester before travelling to a Belgian hospital.

He father said when doctors told Mark he would be permanently paralysed this had a "terrible terrible effect" on him and "something inside just broke".

He decided to apply for euthanasia, but had to wait 30 days before it could happen.

"During that time... I never left his bedside. He was on maximum painkillers and had a lung infection."

He was asked if he was there when the euthanasia took place. "Yes," he replied.

The trial continues.