An acid burn victim is asking for assistance so he can have surgery to save his eyes which were badly damaged when persons threw a bucket of acid at his face.
Shazaad Shaeed, 48, of 15 Supply, Mahaica was lured out of his home by some men around 3 am last Sunday. He said he was awakened by the sounds of his dogs barking and someone calling out to him. He said the men were known to him. Shaeed, a fruit vendor, said he went on his veranda and one of the men said they had something for him from his sister who lives a village away.
He said he decided to go downstairs, but when he opened the door, he noticed that the boy who he saw on the veranda was not there. Instead there was someone else. Realising that something was not right he made a move to hide behind his door but the man threw the bucket of acid at his face.
Shaeed’s, entire face is black from the burns while his body is splattered with black streaks where the acid ran down his skin. He is in danger of losing his eyesight.
He told this newspaper that while he is currently taking eye-drops twice a day, doctors told him that his eyes were badly damaged and the operation would cost thousands of US dollars.
Shaeed said he can see a little but worries that he may never get to see his little son or his wife again. “I want to see my son one more time. I asking you fuh put my story in the papers so that I can get a lil assistance.”
As Shaeed shared his story, his wife who was at the foot of his bed broke into tears. Shaeed is the bread winner of his family.
Meanwhile, his elder sister, Fazeila Shaeed, said she lives at the house behind her brother when she too was awakened by the barking dogs. According to her, her brother has five domestic dogs while she has three.
She said that over the barking of the dogs she heard her brother’s son and wife screaming. She also heard the screams of her brother “on the dam”. She said that the commotion that the dogs caused made her a little scared to leave her home. When she heard her sister-in-law shout that her brother was burnt, the woman said, she summoned the courage and ran out of her house to assist her brother. She said she took him out to the road where they caught a taxi and rushed him to the hospital.
Meanwhile, the sister said that the man who is believed to have been the “mastermind” behind the gruesome act is in police custody. The family remains at a loss as to why anyone would want to hurt Shaeed but pointed out that Shaeed had once had a dispute with one of the attackers’ uncle, though that was years ago.
