The Kitty woman who was badly burnt when a noxious fluid was thrown on her last Saturday said the police are yet to visit her, even as the businesswoman who she suspects is the mastermind is continuously throwing hints at her.
Mala Persaud said that despite the injustice that she is facing she will continue to fight for what she believes is right. Yesterday during an interview with Stabroek News she held firm that the attack was sparked by her constant complaints about the noise coming from a bar near her home and the behaviour of the patrons who congregate there.
She said she was barely able to get sleep on Saturday night after she was burnt because of the loud music. She said that around 3 am yesterday she was awakened by loud music and looked out to see a car parked directly in front of her home.
She said her husband decided to call the police but she persuaded him not to. Later, she said, she noticed the woman who owns and operates the bar speaking with the customers. She then heard them say, “oh they peeping, they peeping”. She said the patrons got up and looked over at her house and began laughing.
She recalled that the car in front of her home left but another soon pulled into the space. The occupants of the vehicle asked the woman if she was open and her response was “no I ain’t open. Meh neighbah seh ah must close up meh shap”.
The woman who was surrounded by family and friends when this newspaper visited said a report of the attack was made at the Kitty Police Station but so far no rank had gone to take a statement from her. She said she heard that police had visited the bar, but she was unsure what came out of the visit.
She attributed the police’s sloth in the investigation to the fact that the woman she suspects is involved in a relationship with a retired senior police officer and policemen are among the patrons of the Station Street bar.
“Nothing ain’t change from Saturday to now. To me it deh in the same process because the music going on; the woman throwing she hints,” she said.
Persaud who has been living in the area for some 30 years said her troubles began when the bar opened several years ago. She said she had reached a stage where she was fed up of the blaring music, the indecent comments of the DJ, broken beer bottles, patrons urinating on her bridge and persons engaging in lewd sexual acts near her home. She showed this newspaper pictures of the blocked roadway at dawn; men urinating on her bridge and on a lantern post in front of her home.
She said she was only speaking up for what she felt was right. Persaud who operates a small grocery store at the bottom flat of her home said she will continue to operate her business and would not allow this threat to her life to stop her.
The mother of four claimed that the woman had made a threat to her life previously and a report was made. However police took no action in the matter. She opined that had the police done so, Saturday’s attack might not have occurred.
She also noted that the person who perpetrated the act was brazen enough to commit it during daylight hours and made no effort to conceal his identity. The incident occurred between 7.45 am and 8 am.
Meanwhile, Persaud yesterday complained of tightness in her face, difficulty breathing and pain. She said she is unsure how necessary plastic surgery would be and was waiting on the burns to be healed. She said she was given a cream that seems to be working.
The woman expressed the view that the substance thrown on her was not full strength acid. She said she believed that it was acid mixed with something else, since her face and skin was not left disfigured. Instead the area where it touched turned dark.
Hours after the attack, Persaud had recounted to this newspaper that she was taking the family’s car out of the yard when a man with an umbrella and a tea cup in his hand went and called for cigarettes. She responded that she did not sell cigarettes loose. The man according to her then said ‘watch this thing’ before throwing the contents of the cup at her. The liquid burnt her face, shoulder, back, leg and chest.
The man then ran towards Vlissengen Road where the yellow taxi he had arrived in was waiting. The woman had said that the attacker strongly resembled a man she had seen the previous night with the owner of the bar.
