Accountant faces jail for hurling acid over lawyers in horror courtroom attack

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:50 PM on 10th July 2009

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An accountant was facing an indefinite jail sentence today after throwing hydrochloric acid over three High Court lawyers.

Ashok Mahajan, 55, who has a history of courtroom violence, launched his furious attack after losing a negligence action against a law firm.

As his appeal was dismissed, Mahajan got up to leave. When the judge asked him to remain, his response was to first 'hurl abuse at all' and then throw the acid.

The highly corrosive liquid left lawyer Lucy Colter screaming in agony as it seared into her eye.lar
Royal Courts of Justice in London

Scene of the attack: Ashok Mahajan faces an indefinite jail sentence after flinging acid over three lawyers in the Royal Courts of Justice in London

The acid also stung her mouth, splattered one of her arms and landed on her legs, melting her tights and burning her skin.

She told jurors that 'liquid started coming through the air and sort of raining down around me.

'At that point I turned and looked at Mr Mahajan. He looked back at me and threw more liquid.'

Two other lawyers, Richard Liddell and Claire White, were also doused and suffered damaged clothes and 'stinging'.

The acid also soaked oak panelling, scarring the varnish.

As 'pungent' fumes left people gasping for breath, swearing Mahajan sprayed more of the solution over his victims.

A courtroom tape recorded both his tirade and his victims' cries of pain and shock.

Mahajan - veteran of a string of courtroom battles beginning with a 1986 custody fight for his son - was detained within minutes.

But in evidence he said he had thrown only water, claiming the acid was planted afterwards as part of a conspiracy to frame him.

He claimed the British judicial system - which he branded 'worse than Nazis' - had joined forces with police, Government 'agents' and the medical profession to tamper with evidence and make him stand trial despite his poor health.

However, jurors at London's Southwark Crown Court took just 47 minutes to decide he was lying.

The defendant, originally an Indian national but now a British citizen living in Wembley, North West London, was unanimously convicted of three counts of assault intending to cause grievous bodily harm on October 15 last year.

Remanding him in custody until August 21 for pre-sentence and psychiatric reports, Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith warned him he was also 'ordering an assessment of his dangerousness' - the first step towards the possible imposition of an indeterminate sentence.

The court heard that the attack on the three lawyers had its roots in a failed race discrimination action Mahajan brought against employment agency AOC Ltd and Kingston Primary Care Trust, where he worked as an accountant.

Mahajan, who ended up representing himself after his barrister withdrew because of 'professional embarrassment', insisted everyone present in court when he hurled the acid had lied.

Describing his loathing of the country's courts, he said: 'I have no faith in the British judicial system and I feel they are worse than the Nazis.

'They have ruined every single thing in my life, simply because they are a bunch of racist thugs. They are evil people.'

Mahajan, who repeatedly claimed he had thrown water, said the first he realised something was wrong was when a security guard instead accused him of hurling acid.

'Now I realise it was a whole planned conspiracy. They have not a shred of evidence against me.'

Accusing hospital doctors of being part of the plot against him for judging him fit to stand trial, the accountant added that he had missed 50 dialysis sessions and was now 'dying'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1198854/Accountant-hurled-acid-lawyers-h...

Wow.

A very nasty piece of work.