A close relative of attorney-at-law Gaumatie Singh says that the doctors tending to her at a private hospital in Trinidad are confident that she will not lose her eye following an acid attack last month.
While the medical staff at the Trinidad hospital are preparing Singh for a second operation to tackle the burns to her face, police here held two women and a man for questioning into the incident.
Police sources told Stabroek News that they are working on the theory that the acid attack was sparked by a court case or a recent falling out that Singh had with someone close to her.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a source close to the family told this newspaper yesterday that an employee who was fired by Singh close to a year ago for dishonesty and a woman who is involved in a High Court matter concerning a will left by a lawyer were detained by police separately yesterday morning.
The source explained that an injunction application was filed by Singh on behalf of the son of the man who resides in the United Kingdom because it is suspected that the will might have been forged.
The arrest of these two women along with an ex-policeman in whom police had expressed an interest days after the incident, was confirmed by several police sources, yesterday.
Meanwhile Stabroek News was reliably informed that the getaway car the assailant used was found on the East Bank, minus its number plate, the day after the incident occurred.
According to the source, Singh who is hospitalized at one of Trinidad’s leading medical institutions underwent her first operation on May 30. That operation was done on her right eye which was seriously damaged by the acid. Doctors at the city hospital where Singh was hospitalized had told relatives that she was in danger of losing her eye and it was then that plans were made to fly her overseas for advanced medical care. When the acid was thrown on her, some went into her right eye.
Stabroek News was told that the doctors in Trinidad have expressed concern at the treatment that Singh received while she was hospitalized here.
The source said that the Trinidad doctors said that following the acid attack, Singh’s entire face should have been placed under running water so as to counteract the acid.
The source added that the staff here also wanted to scrape away the burnt skin but were stopped after a relative consulted with the medical personnel in Trinidad. Had this been allowed to happen, the source said, she would not have been able to travel, as raw flesh would have been exposed to bacteria.
Doctors have since told the relatives that they need not worry as that burnt skin will come off on its own and as such no surgery is needed.
Meanwhile the source applauded the work of the Trinidadian Hospital saying that having 21 specialist surgeons in different fields at one institution is impressive.
On May 28, Singh was doused with acid by a lone assailant as she was speaking to someone near the traffic light outside the Sheriff Street, Guyoil gas station.
Her husband, Krishan and young grandson, who were also in the vehicle, were unhurt.
An eyewitness had recounted to this newspaper that just after 4 pm, a light blue car bearing an HB number plate stopped a short distance from Singh’s car. A young man got out of the vehicle and started heading towards Singh. He had a black bag in his hand and as he neared the Rav 4 the man pulled out a bottle with an orange liquid and threw it into the woman’s face.
The eyewitness told Stabroek News that following the incident, the woman was placed in another vehicle and rushed to the hospital.
The seat that Singh was sitting in was burnt badly and her glasses were lying there too, the witness said. The information this newspaper received is that the man calmly returned to the car that he arrived in and it sped off.
