Sixth victim of Berlin serial acid attacker describes terror

The latest victim of a man on a bicycle suspected of targeting women in Berlin in a series of acid attacks has described her terror.

Nadine Borau, 41, was walking home from a cinema in the eastern Prenzlauerberg district before midnight on Monday (13 March) night, when she was approached by a man on a bicycle.

The reporter for Berliner Zeitung told the publication he laughed maliciously and imitated the sound of heels, saying "clack, clack, clack".

She described his appearance as strong, middle aged, and of medium height, with light skin, wearing a black baseball cap and black jacket.

She said that she started to run. "As he passed me, I heard a sound like a thin air pipe" which was when the liquid hit her.

She pulled a grey shawl over her face: "I was so afraid that he would turn around again because he had not hit properly. I was lucky to have the shawl over my face."

The attacker cycled away down a side street, and she was left unharmed.

Borau was the sixth woman subjected to acid attacks in the city in recent months. Police have not confirmed that the same attacker is responsible, but all attacks follow a similar pattern, with a man approaching the victim on a bicycle and spraying them with an acid substance.

Police told The Local they did not know what substance was used to attack Borau, but said that battery acid was used in four of the five previous attacks.

Three women were attacked in Prenzlauer Berg and nearby Weissensee in December, with one telling police a water pistol may have been used to spray the liquid in her face.

In January, a woman was injured in Prenzlauer Berg after a cyclist sprayed an acidic substance in her face while at the end of February a woman in the eastern Friedrichshain district was attacked. She was hospitalised for a week after being sprayed in the face with an acidic substance.

"This kind of situation is not something you can anticipate: the man comes up suddenly, attacks and then is gone," a police spokeswoman told The Local. "There should not be panic now... We are doing all that we can to investigate and are searching for witnesses."