Belgian girl's tattoo 'nightmare'

Police in Belgium are investigating a complaint from a teenager who says a tattooist peppered her face with stars after she asked for only three.

Kimberley Vlaeminck, 18, said she fell asleep during the procedure.

"I woke up when he was starting to tattoo my nose... I counted 56 stars, it is frightening," she said.

Tattoo artist Rouslan Toumaniantz, who is Romanian, said his client did not fall asleep and she got exactly what she had ordered.

He rejects Ms Vlaeminck's claim he had misunderstood what she had asked for.

"She was awake and looked in the mirror several times as the procedure was being done," said Mr Toumaniantz, who works at Tattoo Box in Kortrijk.

He says his client only regretted the tattoos later.

"She agreed, but when her father saw it, the trouble started," Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws quoted Mr Toumaniantz as saying.

The teenager has told Belgian media she wanted three modest stars tattooed near her eye and she awoke to "a nightmare".

Ms Vlaeminck has said she wants to keep the tattoos on her forehead but would have the rest removed.

Update 19 August 2009: It has been brought to our attention that Ms Vlaeminck subsequently admitted she had lied about the incident because of her father's negative reaction to her tattoos.