Cops fume as acid attacker walks on bail

Sep 18, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News – The Guyana Police Force on Wednesday came out swinging at the decision by the Magistrates’ court to grant bail to the suspect accused of dousing two women with acid earlier this month.

Keron Daniels, who was remanded to prison on Tuesday for allegedly throwing the corrosive substance on 25-year-old Jilicia Leitch and Nirmala Sukraj, leaving Leitch visually impaired, was on Wednesday granted bail in the sum of $500,000, when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court before Magistrate Faith McGusty.

Livid by the decision, the police in statement said, “In the wake of an over-increasing attack against women, the Guyana Police Force wishes to express its grave disappointment in the granting of bail by a magistrate from the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court to Keron Daniels, who was charged with Throwing Corrosive Fluid with Intent, committed on Jilicia Leitch and Nirmala Sukraj.”

According to the police, “It is apt to note that the accused and the victim were in a relationship that had a history of conflict. The woman herself pleaded from her hospital bed that she wanted justice. Despite the heavy prevalence of violence against women in Guyana, magistrates continue to omit to take this crucial factor into account in exercising their discretion in respect to the granting of bail. The matter is further compounded by the high likelihood of these types of offences being repeated, especially when the alleged offender continues to have ready access to the victim.”

Police concluded that it pledged to continue to make every possible effort in reducing, if not wholly eradicating, acts of violence being committed against the women.

During Tuesday’s hearing, the prosecution had claimed to have video evidence linking Daniels to the crime, asserting that CCTV footage placed him as the driver of the getaway vehicle on September 3. However, Daniels’ attorneys, Ronald Daniels and Ronald Bostwick, argued that the footage clearly shows the attacker was masked and therefore could not be identified. They pointed out that police themselves had issued a public appeal for help identifying the masked individual, suggesting the evidence was inconclusive.

As such, Magistrate McGusty had ordered Daniels be remanded until the CCTV footage could be reviewed.

However, during Wednesday’s hearing, prosecutors informed the court that they had not yet secured the footage and were unable to present it to the court, despite stating that were in possession of the footage. In light in the prosecution’s failure to present the footage to the court in time, the magistrate granted Daniels bail; $250,000 for each of the two charges he faces.

Daniels is scheduled to return to court on October 22, 2025 for further hearing.

Meanwhile, one of the lawyers of the accused, Ronald Daniels, dubbed the “attack against Magistrate McGusty” as unjustifiable and unfortunate.

He argued that it was the police who furnished the prosecutor with the information and evidence it used to object to bail. He said the prosecutor told the magistrate that it had video recording showing the accused committing the offence and that he gave a video and audio confession to committing the offence.

“We disputed the existence of the video. As to the confession, we did put on record that it was the accused’s wife who was arrested by the police. He was attending the station looking for her and he was then arrested.

He was kept in custody from Friday and was threatened that his wife who was still in custody (and his teenaged daughter) would feel the pressure unless he gave the statement and video implicating himself in the commission of the offence,” the attorney relayed on his Facebook page.

He said the magistrate asked to see the video and the prosecutor committed to producing it today. “So, the accused was remanded until today. When he was brought to court today, the prosecutor said they were unable to produce the video and changed their narrative. The new narrative became that the accused was seen in the car two hours before the incident in the general area where the incident occurred; the car was allegedly seen sometime after criss-crossing town and changing plates. This is the basis upon which the court was asked to deny the accused bail.”

Attorney Daniels said that as an officer of the court, he is constrained to condemn the ‘vicious and unjustifiable attack” against the judicial integrity of Magistrate McGusty. “It warrants noting that there has been some public pushback against Magistrate McGusty being at risk of being passed over for confirmation as chief magistrate in the traditional system of appointment by seniority. I can only hope that this is not some deeper ploy to render her unsuitable and mitigate against any sentiments over this appointment.”

Daniels, a resident of Uitvlugt Pasture, West Coast Demerara, turned himself in and confessed to police that it was he who attacked Leitch and Sukraj with a corrosive substance on September 3, 2025, along Middle and East Streets, Georgetown.

During his first court appearance, the prosecution had strongly objected to bail, emphasising the severity of Leitch’s injuries, as she has become visually impaired, and is expected to undergo surgery. The court was told, “due to the seriousness of the offence, the prosecution cannot let such acts go lightly.”

Daniels has been charged with two counts of throwing a corrosive substance with intent to maim, disfigure, disable, or cause grievous bodily harm. He was not required to enter a plea.

According to police reports, the two victims, both cashiers at Balwant Singh Hospital, were on their way to buy lunch when a man approached them and threw the liquid before fleeing the scene.

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• acid attack, Guyana Police Force, Jilicia Leitch, Keron Daniels, Nirmala Sukraj

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