Woman gets 12-year jail term for causing 'lifelong disfigurement' to ex-lover in sulfuric acid attack

A woman from Washington, DC was on Tuesday (2 May) sentenced to 12 years in prison for attacking her ex-boyfriend twice, once with a knife and a second time with sulfuric acid.

Linda Washington, 53, got two years for the knife attack and a consecutive 10 years for the acid attack.

Authorities reportedly said that the acid attack caused the victim "lifelong disfigurement" and the injuries kept him hospitalised for nearly a month.

The attacks took place in July and September 2016. The district US Attorney Office said in a news release that the woman had pleaded guilty to both the crimes in March this year, the Washington Post reported.

In the first incident, the accused drove to the Northeast Washington home of her ex-boyfriend to take back hedge trimmers she had once loaned him. The duo had a heated exchange following which she pulled out a butcher's knife in an attempt to attack her former lover.

The man jumped over a fence and ran away, but Washington walked into his house and took away his house keys, prosecutors said. The entire incident was reportedly captured in the victim's security camera.

The second incident took place in a parking lot outside the woman's Southeast Washington home. She threw a plastic cup of drain cleaner on her ex-boyfriend as he was getting into his car. The liquid spilled all over the man's face, neck, chest and arm, the attorney office's new release stated.

It added that an FBI chemist analysed that the liquid mostly contained sulfuric acid, which caused "devastating injuries" to the man and he spent nearly a month at The Burn Center at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

Washington will reportedly be placed on five years of supervised release following the completion of her prison sentence.