The families of two British women targeted in an acid attack in
Zanzibar today opened up about their frustration the attackers have not
been caught.
Londoners Kirstie Trup and Katie Gee, both 18, are
recovering after being targeted by two men on a moped during a
volunteering holiday on August 7.
Their families called on the UK government to apply more pressure on the Tanzanian authorities.
Doug
Morris, the partner of Miss Gee’s mother, said: “If the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office are as committed to helping to bring these people to
justice on behalf of two British citizens, then you would expect them
to move hell and high water to do that.
“And there just doesn’t seem to be any sense of urgency to conclude matters.”
There
is still confusion over how to get a photograph of a suspect to the
women for identification, according to Miss Trup’s father Marc.
He
said: “The photograph cannot be sent in the correct format that is
acceptable by Interpol, or the British authorities, and as a consequence
of that nobody has seen the photo.”
The teenagers, from north London, were nearing the end of a month-long stint teaching English when they were attacked.
Miss
Trup suffered severe chemical burns to her shoulder and back from the
sulphuric acid which was launched at the pair as they walked back from a
restaurant on the predominantly Muslim island.
Police in Zanzibar
have interviewed several people, including eyewitnesses, and are
believed to have identified a possible culprit.
Mr Trup told BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: “I’m particularly upset with the Tanzanian authorities.
“I
think they just hope this will go away. The Foreign Office do send us
emails, but the emails say the same every single time and they seem to
imply that the British Foreign Office has clout, it has a voice, but
clearly none of that is working because we are not getting any progress
whatsoever.
“I suspect the Tanzanian authorities don’t take the
Foreign Office remotely seriously. We want the judicial system to work
properly.
“I would like to see whoever threw that acid brought to justice. I don’t blame the country, I don’t blame the religion.
"I blame the person. He needs to be brought to justice.
“Above all, the girls want to know why he did it and we would like to know why he did it.
"Was it racial, was it a religious thing? We have no idea why this person did it.”
Mr
Morris said: “If they mean what they say, if it’s important for them to
find the perpetrators of this attack, this crime, and bring them to
justice - as they said at the time - then they should be assisting us in
every way that they possibly can.
“Everybody is trying to sort of
give the impression that they are dealing with this, and we are served
platitudes on a bi-weekly basis.
“This crime can’t go unpunished, for the girls’ sake as much as anything else.
"What sort of message is that, that you can do something horrific, you can do something horrible, and you can get away with it?
“We don’t want it to drag on and on, we want justice done and we want justice done now.”
The
families said they had “no idea” why the girls were targeted, as they
were behaving respectfully and dressed in accordance with local customs.
Mr Trup said his daughter was now recovering from her injuries: “Kirstie is doing well, she’s moved to university.
"She seems to be progressing well mentally and physically. Kirstie is still having treatment at the local hospital.
"She has to wear a pressure garment over her burns, which she has to wear 23 hours a day for one whole year.
“She
goes regularly once a week to hospital for continual physiotherapy on
her burns, but she’s progressing well physically and mentally she
appears to be moving well. She has difficult times.”
Mr Morris said: “Katie is remarkable. She’s very strong mentally and just coping with the process of healing.”
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