A Guyanese woman was among at least four persons rushed to the hospital in Tortola, British Virgin Islands yesterday after a masked intruder walked into a beauty salon and sprayed them with a substance suspected to be some sort of acid.
According to reports from Tortola, Guyanese hairdresser Candy Harris was the target of the attack, which occurred some time between 10 am and 11 am at a salon in the Chevelle Centre at Road Town, Tortola. Another hairdresser, Dorcia Peters, was believed to be seriously affected by the substance which also burned two other persons. All four were taken to the Peebles Hospital, Road Town, Tortola.
According to eyewitnesses, the salon had several persons including customers and a child at the time.
An eyewitness said that at the time of the incident, she was at the cashier when the intruder, wearing a hoodie, a mask, gloves and a bodysuit, walked into the salon. “I wanted to know if he was crazy. And then… after I see how he operating, I thought it was a gunman so I run behind the counter,” the eyewitness said.
Another eyewitness said the intruder walked up to one of the stations where Harris, another hairdresser and a few others were, and started spraying a substance in Harris’s face. It spilled on the others who were close by.
“When I realised that something was wrong was when I saw Candy screaming and smoking,” said one of the eyewitnesses. She added that she panicked and started screaming and found herself running out the door at the same time as the attacker, who was described as a tall slender person.
Reports said a man who apparently had a grievance with the Guyanese woman had earlier gone to the other section of the building where the salon was previously located in search of her.
Several persons who were on the scene reportedly drenched the victims with water as they screamed in pain. “Candy said that her eyes were burning and that she wasn’t seeing well. After we wash her face she said that she start seeing from the one eye,” an eyewitness said.
One of the workers said that the heavy stench of the substance left her with a burning sensation in her throat and this was the case with several others. The police had cordoned off the area for approximately one hour as they conducted investigations.
