Man burns former wife with acid

A relationship that soured several months ago turned ugly yesterday when a Charlestown man doused his former reputed wife with acid.

Joy Bartholomew, 22, of Lot 35 Charlestown is nursing severe burns about her body at the Georgetown Public Hospital. She was rushed to the hospital minutes after the acid bath which occurred some time after 9 am yesterday.

Police are hunting the man who shared a home with Bartholomew just over a week ago. He fled after the incident and was last seen in the Albouystown area.

Bartholomew who was badly burnt in the face and has since lost the sight in one of her eyes put on a brave smile yesterday for relatives and friends who flocked the hospital to see her. She was able to mumble a few words but wept every few minutes.

Relatives who struggled to remain calm told Stabroek News that Bartholomew had quit the relationship with the man a short while ago. She had told him it was over and that she would be moving on with her life. He reportedly brushed this aside and kept pursuing her.

Cheryl Bartholomew, the young woman’s mother, recounted yesterday that Joy and the man had lived downstairs at her home. She said they had been together for three years but lately things had soured and her daughter opted to move out.

The young woman went to live with an aunt in Albouystown but the suspect still visited her. According to information she had received, the mother said, her daughter was at home when the man turned up with a knife to see her.

She said someone had seen him with the weapon and had asked him to leave.

An aunt who was home with the injured woman at the time recounted that the man showed up a second time to see Bartholomew unknown to her.

But other people at the home who had seen him said he had appeared to be empty-handed. It was a few minutes after meeting with the woman that screams rang out and the man was seen fleeing the home.

“He did not only hurt Joy, he hurt me. I does treat him like my son and would have regular conversations with him about her. What he did was really unexpected and so painful,” the mother said.

The woman said she had seen the young man earlier yesterday and had spoken with him. As usual, he mentioned her daughter. She said he was in love with her daughter but Joy was making other plans. As a mother, she said, intervening in any problems the two had seemed wrong but she had always made the effort to speak to them individually.

Other relatives commented that the man had trouble letting go and that he had reportedly said if he could not have Bartholomew then no one could.