LONDON: A young man chased his ex-girlfriend and threw acid in her face in Brighton, UK, after a judge found his previous sentence was “unnecessarily lenient”.
Junior doctor Rim Aloui was brutally assaulted at his door after being tricked by Milad Rauf.
Roof, himself a medical student, traveled across Britain to Brighton and disguised himself in a thick suit to carry out the attack, causing life-changing injuries to Alaoui.
He was initially sentenced by a judge in October to 11 years in prison, with a four-year sentence on licence.
But after a hearing on Wednesday, judges increased his sentence to 15 years with an extended license of four years.
Lord Justice Fulford, sitting with Justices Gauss and Sir Andrew Nicholl, ruled that the original sentence was “unnecessarily lenient” given the domestic context of the case.
Fulford said: “This crime was a form of domestic abuse,” adding that the extent of Roof’s plan was “striking.”
She mentioned “catastrophic” injuries caused by the acid, including blindness in one eye, and said that Alaoui did not know whether she would be able to return to her profession because of her injuries.
Chalk said: “Roof’s crime was shocking and has badly affected the future of a young doctor who – who lives to heal the others – robbed him of his sight with one eye.
“I hope the court’s decision to extend his sentence will serve as a warning to those who contemplate such cruel and barbaric acts.”
During her October sentencing, Judge Christine Lang QC said the trauma Allui suffered was “unimaginable.”
She said: “You bought sulfuric acid, as a trainee doctor you would know better than most people the disastrous consequences it would apply to the human body.”
Judge Ling said that Roof acted out of “simple jealousy and anger at being rejected”.
The court heard at the time that Rauf and Alloui had a short relationship while studying together in Cardiff, but Alloui broke it when he was offered a job as a doctor in East Sussex.
Rather than advance, Roof spent several weeks planning his attack before traveling to Brighton on 20 May.
Disguised as a fat suit, sunglasses and makeup, he knocked on her door and handed her a threatening note—so she wouldn’t know when he was speaking, before throwing sulfuric acid on his face.
Despite the immediate reaction of going to the shower to wash her and the intervention of medical workers, she is left with devastating injuries.
In a statement read out on his behalf in court, Alaoui said the attack had left him in “constant physical and psychological pain” and that he feared “future well-being and socioeconomic hardship”.
“I’ve been robbed of my career and years of young adult life,” she said. “I can’t imagine how or why someone could commit such a terrible, pre-planned attack.”