ONE of the two British teenage victims of an acid attack in
Zanzibar was due to undergo skin grafts yesterday.
Kirstie Trup left the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London
on Monday, after treatment, but was expected to return for surgery.
Katie Gee remained in the hospital, where her condition was said to
be "stable".
The two 18-year-olds were working in Zanzibar as volunteers when
the apparently unprovoked attack happened last week in the capital,
Stone Town.
Miss Trup's father, Marc Trup, said in a statement that the
girls were dressed appropriately: "We know it's a Muslim country;
they were Western girls. Unfortunately, they went out during the
month of Ramadan."
The girls were near the end of a three-week stay on the island.
Press reports indicate that they were working at the St Monica
nursery and primary school, a multifaith project run by the
Anglican diocese of Zanzibar.
Police in Zanzibar are holding the radical Muslim preacher
Sheikh Issa Ponda Issa, who was sought in connection with the
attack. He handed himself in to police a day after he was injured
as he tried to evade officers.
Police are also investigating earlier incidents during the
girls' visit. Miss Gee had told friends that she was assaulted by a
Muslim woman apparently for singing during Ramadan, and a colleague
at St Monica's claimed that the pair were involved in a heated
argument with a shopkeeper, days before the attack.