By Leanne Rinne

Copyright bbc

He told the BBC he then fell to the ground.

“I was trying to shout for help, but because my tongue was swollen, my lips were swollen, my words didn’t come out, no one could hear what I was saying. I thought ‘I’m done, I’m dead’,” he said.

“I had all floods of my little boys’ pictures going through my head, like I was never going to see them again.

“The burn was so much, I wouldn’t put this pain on anybody. No one deserves to go through this pain.”

Once at the hospital, he said the “message was clear to me from the doctor – that they were glad it had just hit my tongue because if it went down my throat I wouldn’t be here today.”

Four days on from the attack, reported by KentOnline, he said his body is slowly beginning to heal, but the effect on his mental health has been challenging.

“Physically I’ll get over it – the burns on my face, my eye, my mouth, they will heal. But mentally this is going to be with me for a very long time.”