A Case Almost Too Gruesome to Mention No.13 - Mark Van Dongen

this case takes place in bristol in the united kingdom on the morning of the 23rd of september 2015 a woman named dr nick white was awakened by the sound of her doorbell ringing accompanied by the sounds of screaming and shouting she opened her curtains and peeked outside she saw a man dressed only in his underwear he also appeared to be covered in mud from his head to his shoulders at first nick thought this was some kind of weird jerk or prank but the man was screaming and begging for help and then a man named thomas

sweet came out of one of the flats down the street wielding a golf club thomas was no attacker he too had heard the sounds of screaming and shouting and was worried that somebody needed some help at first he thought the sounds were due to a couple of foxes fighting but then he realized it was a person screaming he had come outside to assist a couple of the other neighbours in the area had also come outside to see what was going on they approached the screaming man and they realized this really wasn't some kind of strange

prank and he wasn't covered in mud they realized this man's skin was literally melting and was coming off in clumps the man's name was mark van dongen mark was 28 years old and was originally from the netherlands he had moved to the uk to study he worked as an engineer and had a long-term girlfriend a 48 year old woman named berliner wallace the couple had met in 2010 berliner was a fashion student and was almost 20 years older than mark in august of 2015 the relationship had broken down mark's friends said they would often see

scratches all over his body and on one occasion berliner had pawed boiling wat on him as he slept so mark did the right thing and he left the relationship he had also met somebody else on the 2nd of september 2015 21 days prior to mac been found in the street berliner had gone on to her computer and began searching a certain topic acid attacks she looked at 82 cases of these attacks and what had happened to the victims after she had browsed on some of the various sites she went onto amazon and was able to

purchase a bottle of concentrated sulfuric acid on this very same day mark called the police and told them that berliner had been harassing him and his new girlfriend berliner had called mac's new girlfriend numerous times on the phone but when she picked up berliner wouldn't say anything she would just stay silent in an attempt to be intimidating berliner had also told mark that if he was really to leave her she would take her own life the police contacted berliner and warned her to stop mark also called his father on this day too he told his

father that he was genuinely scared of berliner he explained about the scratches and the boiling water he was fearful that she may do something else despite his fears on the night of the 22nd of september mark went round to berliners flat to reiterate that their relationship was indeed over and to try and make some kind of amends mark had also decided to stay the night at around 3 a.m on september 23rd mark was sleeping in bed berliner got up walked into the kitchen and poured some of the asset she had bought into a cup and

then returned to the bedroom she woke up mark laughed at him and said if i can't have you then nobody can berliner then threw a large quantity of concentrated sulfuric acid directly into mark's face mark was instantly in a tremendous amount of pain he was able to run outside and the neighbors came to his assistance they found him screaming in agony begging for somebody to help him the neighbors called the emergency services and they told the operator that his ex-girlfriend had thrown acid in his face they then assisted mark guiding him into a flat so

he could take a cold shower to soothe the pain until the paramedics arrived the paramedics arrived on the scene and found mark in a horrendous state he was forming from the mouth and had extremely severe chemical burns on his face chest shoulders arms and legs they quickly administered pain relief and rushed him to hospital on the journey there mark was repeatedly saying that he couldn't see anything the paramedic looked into his eyes only to see that one of his irises had dissolved mark told the paramedics exactly who was responsible for doing this to him he

begged for the police to go and check on his new girlfriend he was worried that she too could have suffered the same fate the police made their way over to berliner's flat and inside they found her just sitting on the sofa she was of course quickly arrested the police checked on mark's new girlfriend and thankfully she was absolutely fine when mark arrived at the hospital he was able to catch a glimpse of himself and saw the extent of his injuries mark screamed and stated that he no longer wished to live mark had to be put

into a coma for four months due to the extent of his injuries he was only able to breathe with the assistance of a ventilator the acid had also caused a great deal of damage to his lower left leg so much in fact that it needed to be amputated the sulfuric acid had continued to burn not only through the skin and muscle but also all the way down to the bone the acid had destroyed the membrane surrounding them and some of max's bones were full of cavities it caused him an unbearable amount of pain mark's nose

had been completely destroyed along with one of his ears too the police searched for mac's family so they could contact them and let them know what had happened his family lived in the netherlands so it took around 10 days but they were able to find them once hearing the news his family rushed to his side to be with him when mark's father arrived the hospital staff told him where he could find mark he perhaps didn't fully know the extent of mark's injuries as when he arrived on the ward he looked for his son but couldn't

see him anywhere he returned to the desk and told them they had made a mistake but they hadn't mark's injuries made him completely unrecognizable even to his own father mark eventually came out of the coma and when he did he only had movement in his mouth and tongue he communicated by sticking out his tongue when his father pointed to a letter on an alphabet board after some time in recovery he was able to start talking again but he was paralyzed from the neck down mark became deeply depressed the pain the trauma and not being able

to move took a huge toll on his mental health mark's injuries was so severe that the police decided that the pictures should never be released from now on mark would need a lifetime of constant and dedicated care on the 22nd of november 2016 a care home was found for mark in gloucester only one night at this care home mark called his father and pleaded with him to come to gloucester to pick him up mark's father drove 800 miles to his son at the home once he entered he found mark in his room covered in his

own feces mark's father promised him he would get him out of there as soon as possible mark's family and friends were able to hire a private ambulance and managed to get mark back to his country they found him a care home with much better care if things weren't already bad enough mark developed a lung infection a tube needed to be inserted into his throat to remove liquid the operation would mean that mac would no longer be able to talk speaking to his family was the only thing that was keeping mark going now unable to talk

mark decided that he wanted to apply for euthanasia euthanasia is legal in belgium and mark's application was granted on the 2nd of january 2017 mark and his father spent some quality time together for the last time the doctors came and at 7 15 pm he was pronounced dead mark passed away at the age of just 29 and the trial would begin in 2018. berliners defense argued that mark had died at the hands of the doctor in belgium during the euthanasia process rather than at berliner's hands and thus she could not be guilty of his killing

berliner also accused mark of being controlling and violent and claimed she believed that she was throwing a glass of water at him not acid she also said that mark had left the acid on the side of her bed hoping she would drink it in the middle of the night belinda made up numerous lies and excuses for what she did to mark what berliner's search history showed an obsessive amount of premeditation she had looked at many stories of acid attacks she knew exactly what she was doing and she wanted to destroy mark's life in her cruelest

of ways she had also tested out the acid beforehand on a table she knew full well how corrosive the acid was the judge overseeing the case called the attack premeditated sadistic malicious and callous she stated that belinda was manipulative controlling and dangerous the judge said to beliner your intention was to burn disfigure and disable mark so that he would no longer be attractive to any other woman it was an act of pure evil when the judge read out the extent of mark's injuries and how he suffered following the attack physically and mentally berliner showed absolutely

no signs of remorse instead she just continued to lie about mac and about what happened in the end she was cleared of murder and manslaughter but was found guilty of throwing a corrosive substance with intent berliner was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years in prison there are now marks on the doorbell that mark rang when he pleaded for help the acid that had burned through his skin had also corroded the metal a chilling reminder to the locals who live in the area the fact that there are no images of mark makes me wonder just

how bad the injuries were and as i said earlier even mark's father was unable to recognize his own son to me acid attacks are one of the most evil and twisted things that a person can do to somebody not only does it cause a great deal of pain but it also causes lifelong disfigurement an acid attack also damages your muscles skin and bones in a way that hinders mobility there is constant discomfort for the rest of your life that never ends and the victims often need regular surgery the victims also suffer ptsd depression and anxiety

the burns also result in a greater chance of developing cancers it is a level of cruelty that is just unfathomable to me in my opinion someone who carries out such an attack deserves life in prison sadly people all over the world suffer from these attacks they tend to be fueled by jealousy or somebody wanting to seek revenge for cheating or even if a partner just wants to leave i know that here in the uk they have been used in gang attacks i'll do my best to cover more of these kinds of cases perhaps i'll make

a long form video on the topic and see what happens i have already covered the story of kitty piper who is perhaps one of the most famous victims kitty created a charity for people affected by burns and has done a great job at raising awareness a link to the charity will be in the description and pinned in the comments too you