Father planned to have acid poured on his 3-year-old son just to prove his wife was an unfit mother

A father allegedly planned with six others to have acid poured on his son just to show that his wife was an unfit mother for their son. This came after he had consulted with an Imam on whether it was allowed in Islam for him to kill his wife and children.

The 40-year-old father was involved in a protracted custody battle with his estranged wife who has three kids with him, so he came up with the devious plan so as to get custody of his children. 

Worcester Crown Court heard the youngster, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, suffered serious burns to his face and arm at the Home Bargains store in the city on July 21 last year after he was squirted in the face with sulphuric acid. 

The father, whose identity is being hidden to protect his kids, has been charged with conspiring to unlawfully or maliciously cast or throw sulphuric acid on or at the boy between June 1 and July 22, with intent to burn, maim, disfigure or disable the minor, or do some grievous bodily harm to him.

Left to right) Norbert Pulko, Saied Hussini, father of 3-year-old boy (cannot be identified), Martina Badiova, Adam Cech, Jabar Paktia and Jan Dudi, in the dock at Worcester Crown Court 

It was not the first time the boy had been targeted – with an earlier incident allegedly taking place on July 13 and involving Pulko, Hussini and Badiova, the court heard.

Jonathan Rees QC, prosecuting said:

In April 2016 his wife had left him, taking their three children with her and, in due course, she issued divorce proceedings.

The prosecution say that it will become apparent the first defendant took the separation badly.

Mr Rees said the father had been granted fortnightly supervised contact with his children but he had launched legal proceedings for greater access.

This application was being opposed by his wife.

We say the evidence suggests that in an effort to ensure his application was successful he was willing to manufacture evidence of injuries to his children in an attempt to show that his wife was unable properly to care for them, in other words she was an unfit mother.

Mr Rees told the jury that six years earlier the mother had left her husband, but returned after three days to be accused of ‘humiliating him’.

Rees said:

He told her that he had spoken to an Imam.

He said that he had asked the imam whether he was allowed to kill his wife and his children in accordance with the religion, but the imam told him that he could not do that and was advised to pray instead.

In the same vein, and in front of his wife, he threatened to take the children outside the UK to a Muslim country to have them killed.

He also threatened to get someone else to kill his wife and the children.

The father also hired a private detective to carry out surveillance on his wife.

Mr Rees added:

The prosecution suggest that the threats he made about having his children killed help provide an answer to one of the questions which arise in this case: what sort of a father can contemplate deliberately injuring one of his children?