Woman pleads guilty to throwing acid, placed on $10,000 bond

A BELMONT man yesterday said that he has forgiven his former lover for throwing acid on the left side of his face although the incident has permanently affected his hearing on the left.

Yesterday Frederick George made this declaration after High Court Judge Rajendra Narine ordered the jury to return a guilty verdict against Catherine George. She was charged with throwing sulphuric acid on Frederick’s face with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm on January 17, 1996, at Belmont Long Circular Road. Catherine, who had previously pleaded not guilty to the offence, informed the court that she was changing her plea to guilty when the matter resumed yesterday. In mitigation, Defence Attorney Ken Wright asked the court not to impose a custodial sentence on his client and informed the court that she was willing to pay compensation to Frederick for the injuries he received. Justice Narine bonded Catherine in the sum of $10,000 to keep the peace for five years. In default she will receive two years’ hard labour. In addition, she is required to pay compensation to Frederick in the sum of $3,500, in default she would serve six months’ simple imprisonment. She was granted six months to pay the compensation.

Speaking to reporters outside the Port-of-Spain Second Criminal Court yesterday, Frederick, 62,  said that the compensation rewarded to him was inadequate. However, he admitted that it was wrong of him to get involved with Catherine in the first place. In his evidence to the court on Friday, Frederick told the court that he was involved in a relationship with his next-door neighbour Catherine in 1993. However, he broke off the relationship after he found out that her husband was having problems with her. Frederick told the court that Catherine lived adjacent to him on Barton Lane, Belmont, with her husband of 20 years and two children. Recounting the incident, Frederick said that around midday on January 17, he was standing on Belmont Circular Road awaiting a taxi when Catherine approached him, took out a soft drink bottle from her handbag, used her teeth to open the cap, poured some of its contents into a silver cup and threw the liquid on him. The acid burnt the left side of Frederick’s face and shoulder. Frederick made a report to the nearby Belmont Police Station. Catherine, however, denied that she had a relationship with Frederick.