Nigerian Acid Assault Victim Whose Face Got Burnt in Gruesome Attack Finds Happiness Again

Naomi Oni, 21, a Nigerian  had acid hurled over her face, head and body as she returned home from work, after her shift at Westfield's Victoria's Secret store last December in Dagenham.

The acid burned off the skin on her face and scalp and left her temporarily blinded. She lost her eyelids, eyebrows and some of her hair in the assault.

She said the attacker gave her a 'cold stare' before throwing the liquid at her from behind.

She said: "I felt a splash – that’s when I thought, someone’s out to kill me...I just started running straight home. I knew it was acid. It feels like something is eating way at your skin. I felt it most on my scalp, more than my face."   

#See more before and after pictures after the cut...

She arrived at her home shouting and banging on the door, screaming ‘acid, acid.’

Her family came to the door thinking she was excited about something.

Then when her mother opened the door, Naomi said everyone’s faces ‘just dropped.’

Since then, surgeons have meticulously rebuilt her features including taking skin from the back of her ear to make new eyelids for her. But her eyebrows remained permanently damaged.

Before the incident, Naomi described herself as a 'girly girl' who would spend three hours getting ready to go out in the evening.

Knowing her eyebrows would never grow back was yet another blow to her confidence. After suffering so much from the attack.

It's been ten months since the attack, her skin has healed enough for her to have her eyebrows restored. The ecstatic Naomi wept with joy after having cosmetic surgery. She had a sophisticated semi-permanent make-up treatment that tattoos on the eyebrows as individual hairs, mimicking the effect of real brows.

Now, in her first public appearance since February, when she movingly described on breakfast show how her life was turned upside down when she was doused in sulphuric acid, Naomi  reveals on camera the extent of her suffering - and how she has managed to rebuild her life.

'What I loved about the treatment was its intricacy – it is a form of cosmetic tattooing.  It is the closest you can get to mimicking the appearance of the original brow.'

'I did get a bit emotional when I saw them. It’s the first time I have seen myself with eyebrows for almost a year.'

Naomi is on leave from her job at Victoria's Secret lingerie store at Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, East London, while she recovers. She eventually plans to return to work and pursue her dream of becoming a make-up artist.

Naomi, from London, is still at a loss to explain why she was targeted. She said: 'I asked, "why me?" I work hard, I’m a good person.

'I’m the same person now but stronger.

Naomi was honoured on Wednesday night for her bravery with a prize at the Inspiration for Women Awards at Cadogan Hall in Chelsea.

Naomi's attacker, Mary Konye, a Nigerian also 21, from Canning Town, East London who is currently facing trial has been charged over the attack and will stand trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in January.

"I want to say to my attacker, "You can burn my skin but you can’t burn my soul." Naomi said.