A Worcester man accused of setting up an acid attack on his three-year-old son reportedly texted “nailed it” to one of his co-accused shortly after the boy was sprayed with sulphuric acid.
The child, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, suffered chemical burns after being splashed with the highly corrosive substance at a Home Bargains store in Worcester on 21 July last year.
The 40-year-old defendant, who cannot be named in order to protect his son’s anonymity, is on trial at Worcester Crown Court, accused of conspiring with five men and one woman to plot and carry out the attack.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
CCTV footage shows three of the alleged co-conspirators - Adam Cech, Jan Dudi and Norbert Pulko - entering the store at around 2pm. Cech is then seen approaching the boy, whom he is accused of splashing with sulphuric acid.
The toddler was then heard screaming “I hurt, I hurt”, the Worcester News reports. He was taken to hospital and treated for burns to his face and arms.
Seven hours later, the boy’s father messaged Jabar Paktia, who was not present during the attack but is accused of acting as a “middle man”, says the newspaper.
“The sticker features a young lady in it with a motif which says ‘nailed it!’”, Jonathan Rees QC, prosecuting, told the jury.
The court has also heard that in the days following the attack, Pulko exchanged text messages with his sister which, the prosecution claims, reference his participation.
In response to his sister’s question: “Why did you do this?”, the 22-year-old defendant wrote: “I’m stupid. I know I’m going for a minimum of 15 years to prison.”
“If I go I'm going to kill myself before they put me there,” he added.
The prosecution has argued that the victim’s father was “stung” by his wife’s decision to leave him and take their three children in April 2016, and planned the attack on their son “in a bid to present the woman as ‘an unfit mother’”, the Birmingham Mail reports.
All seven defendants deny charges of conspiring to unlawfully or maliciously cast or throw sulphuric acid on or at the boy, with intent to burn, maim, disfigure, disable or do grievous bodily harm to him. The trial continues.
