HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — A man has been found in guilty in an acid attack that left a woman permanently disfigured by industrial strength drain cleaner.
A jury found Andrew Fordham guilty of aggravated assault and aggravated battery after five hours of deliberations.
Christy Sims was at home in 2013 when she was called to the bathroom by her boyfriend asking her to bring a towel.
She testified when she approached the door, Fordham was slipping around on a water puddle, holding a yellow bowl. She said a moment later, he lunged toward her in the hallway, throwing sulfuric acid drain cleaner onto the face, chest and arms.
“I can't describe the pain. It's worse than any childbirth I've ever had. Instinctively, because my eyes were burning, I went right to sink and started rinsing my eyes," Sims said.
Sims said Fordham called 911 for help. In a recording played to the jury, a dispatcher is heard asking Fordham if he had washed Sims and put her in the shower. He had not.
Sims, who was blinded by the acid, couldn't understand why he wasn't rinsing her off.
"He said, 'If I rinse you off. It's going to ignite the chemicals,' and I'm like, 'What are you talking about? I'm burning. I'm on fire,'" said Sims.
A paramedic later testified the acid had burned through Sims clothes and that he was surprised that Fordham had not rinsed her off. He also said he was suspicious of wide spill area of the acid into the hallway and walls.
WJAX
