AN alleged conspirator tested acid on his own hand before a boy was squirted with the corrosive liquid in a Worcester shop.

Saied Hussini showed a judge and jury the scar at Worcester Crown Court but said he never had any intention of going through with an attack on the three-year-old and was only trying to ‘buy time.’ The 43-year-old Afghan claims he was hanging around a Worcester school to ‘save’ the boy from his father and that he was only ‘pretending’ to take part in an attack.

All seven defendants, including the child’s 40-year-old father, deny a conspiracy to apply a corrosive fluid with intent to cause the child grievous bodily harm.

Hussini, Norbert Pulko and Martina Badiova were ‘loitering’ outside a Worcester school on July 13 last year, eight days before the boy was squirted with acid in Home Bargains at the Shrub Hill Retail Park, Worcester. The prosecution case is that this was an abandoned attack before the attack itself on July 21 when Adam Cech sprayed the boy with sulphuric acid.

‘Handyman’ Hussini, of Wrottesley Road, London, said he tested acid on his hand with co-defendants Pulko and Paktia on July 11 last year at the Wolverhampton home of the boy’s father, the man said to be at the centre of the alleged conspiracy.

Hussini said the father had produced a one litre bottle of acid before the test took place. Jonathan Rees QC, prosecuting, asked Hussini what the acid bottle was made of. Hussini answered ‘glass’ then ‘plastic and said of the acid: “It was painful. It was like a drop of fire on my hand.”

Mr Rees asked him if Paktia knew the planned attack at the school was only ‘pretend’ or whether he believed they actually intended to attack the boy. Hussini said Paktia told him the father had ‘lost his mind’ and ‘believed’ Paktia knew they would not go through with an attack, describing his fellow Afghan as ‘a family guy’ with children of his own.

Hussini was also asked why Pulko had a plastic glove on his hand outside the school. Hussini said: “I really don’t know. I didn’t even ask him.” He said Pulko may have been using it to handle change but Mr Rees said: “That’s a lie. That’s something you have just made up now.”

He was asked what Pulko had in his hand as he followed the family. Hussini said he thought it might be a cigarette or a lighter.

The trial continues.