A 54-year-old Station Street, Kitty woman yesterday was doused with acid in an attack she believed was retaliation for speaking out on the constant noise nuisance from a bar reportedly owned by a senior policeman in the residential area.
Mala Persaud sustained burns to her face, mouth, chest and legs in the attack which appeared to be well-planned. Recounting the incident yesterday, the woman told Stabroek News that she was taking the family’s car out of their yard sometime between 7:45 and 8 am when she was attacked. “I saw a yellow taxi drive pass here and stop three houses down,” she recounted. Persaud said a man came out of the passenger seat and the car sped off. “I saw him coming down the road with an umbrella and teacup in his hand,” she said.
According to Persaud, the man went to the shop and called for cigarettes. She said she told him that they did not have loose cigarettes. The woman recounted that she was wearing a cap because of the drizzle and the man approached her. “He seh ‘watch this thing’ and he throw the thing to me,” she said.
Persaud recounted that she ran out of the car and started to holler. She said that she started to take off her clothes as she ran into the yard calling for her son. “Ah start hollering ‘Sunil, Sunil come see wha happen to me’,” she recounted. Her son, Sunil and other relatives rushed to her aid even as she tried to wash off the acid with water in the yard. She said the police at the Kitty Police Station were contacted and she was taken there first, before being taken to the hospital.
At the hospital, she was treated and sent away. “I thank God it ain catch me eye,” she said.
Persaud said that based on reports, her attacker ran down the street after he doused her with acid and the car was waiting for him at Vlissengen Road. She said that it sped off with him inside.
Persaud said her attacker strongly resembled a man she had seen the previous night with the operator of the bar. The bar is reportedly owned by a policeman and a woman runs it for him. She said the man went twice to purchase cigarettes and mints on Friday night and she later saw him with the bar operator. “Is the same individual come with the umbrella,” she said.
The woman said that this September would mark three years since the bar was set up in the neighbourhood and since then, they have not had peace. She said that despite numerous reports to the police nothing was ever done. Persaud said sometimes, the police would show up, go to the bar, take a few drinks and nothing would ever happen.
The music from the bar would often go until 5 the next morning or even later, she said. When Stabroek News was in the area late yesterday, the bar was already playing music at a loud level and there were many patrons there. Persaud said that apart from the noise, there was always a traffic jam, and there would be persons urinating on the street and on person’s fences. In addition, there is usually a pile-up of garbage the next day including broken bottles. She showed Stabroek News several photos of the garbage and traffic jam as well as one of someone urinating, that she had taken. Persaud said that the bar operator would point her out to patrons as the person who tries to shut her down and she would be verbally abused by them. Vehicles would also come to the spot and blast music, she said.
Persaud said that in April, someone threw a metal implement into her glass door and broke it. She said that despite the years of pleading for relief, nothing has been done and asserted that the authorities need to act. She said that she had called in the media to complain about the noise nuisance on Monday and she believed that the acid attack stemmed from this. “This thing was well set,” she said.
Persaud called on the authorities to take action. “We need peace,” she said. Yesterday, even though it was only early evening many persons were already in the bar and there were cars lining both sides of the street even as music boomed from the bar. This is what they have to live with, Persaud said noting that many nights they cannot sleep due to the noise. Sitting in a chair, her face scarred from the acid, she pleaded for something to be done.
