A teenager has been jailed for a fatal acid attack which killed a mother
A teenager has been jailed for 17 years for throwing acid at a mother who died 11 days later.
The sentence is believed to be the first for a fatal acid attack in Britain.
19-year-old Xeneral Webster had been carrying the sulphuric acid to intimidate a rival, but it was knocked out of his hand and covered Joanne Rand who was sitting on a nearby bench.
As his sentence was read out, Webster shouted at Judge Angela Morris: “All of you will probably be dead by the time I am out of here, fuck you bro.”
The 47-year-old mother had been visiting the grave of her daughter, who was killed in a car crash, in Frogmoor, High Wycombe on June 3 2017. After the acid was thrown on Rand she ran into a nearby KFC to wash herself with water. She was released from hospital with 5 per cent burns but died 11 days later from organ failure, after developing septicaemia, because of her injuries.
Webster fled the scene on a bicycle over which the original argument had started.
He pled guilty to manslaughter part way through his trial and was sentenced to 17 years in prison as well as three years on extended license.
The judge told Webster: “You and your actions bear the responsibility for her (Ms Rand’s) tragic demise.”
Outside the courthouse Ms Rand’s 18-year-old daughter Katie Pitwell called for tougher sentences for acid attacks.
She said: “He knew how much it could hurt someone and yet he used the stronger acid anyway to hurt someone else.
“He went out with the intention of hurting someone and it’s an innocent person that got hurt in this situation.
“People need to know that, if they’re carrying that type of stuff, it’s going to hurt someone or kill someone.”
