Acid attack victim tells of ‘agony’ as neighbour is jailed for 20 years

Dean Smith suffered catastrophic burns over the left side of his body
Julia Atherley18 December 2019
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A childcare worker today said he felt “destroyed” after being left with horrific injuries from an acid attack by his next door neighbour.

Dean Smith, 36, suffered catastrophic burns over the left side of his body when Santokh Johal squirted him with 91 per cent sulphuric acid through the window of his home in Leyton. Mr Smith, who worked in a primary school’s nursery and after-school club in Islington, had already called the police after Johal, 53, started swearing and threatening to stab him.

Paramedics and firefighters found Mr Smith in excruciating pain. They hosed him off in the shower before taking him to hospital where he had skin graft surgery on about 20 per cent of his body in January. Johal was convicted of throwing a corrosive fluid with intent to burn, maim, disfigure or to do grievous bodily harm and jailed for 20 years at Snaresbrook crown court last week.

Mr Smith still has treatment at a specialist burns hospital in Essex. He said: “My skin, all over my left side, it’s damaged… I’ve got one hand I can use, I can barely wash myself. I’m in so much agony. The skin on my legs is very sensitive. I can’t lie down, I can’t sit down sometimes … Sometimes my brother has to come here to move stuff around.”

Santokh Johal squirted sulphuric acid through an open window and onto Dean Smith
PA

Mr Smith, a former rough sleeper, said he had been involved in disputes with Johal but added: “I never thought my neighbour next door would go to such an extreme length to hurt me.”

CCTV footage shows the moment Mr Smith, still on the phone to police, opens his lounge window to let the call dispatcher hear Johal’s ranting. Immediately, Johal picks up a white bottle and squirts it into the open window.

Mr Smith said he has been unable to return to work. “He’s destroyed me, there’s no way back from this … [but] hopefully I can start to rebuild whatever is left of my life.”

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