Household of Lengthy Island acid assault sufferer says cops dropped the ball

The household of the Lengthy Island faculty scholar who was left severely burned from an acid assault mentioned Thursday that cops haven’t achieved sufficient to catch the wrongdoer.

One yr to the day after Nafiah Ikram had acid hurled in her face in her personal driveway, her attacker stays on the free — and her household says it’s Nassau County cops’ fault.

“The police division, they by no means take this case severely,” mentioned the sufferer’s father, Sheikh Ikram, 50. “So, please. Assist us to seek out that animal. My daughter, she is struggling each single day and we’re going via a really powerful time. It was any person who actually is aware of her effectively, who has excellent info.”

Nafiah Ikram, 22, was coming back from work at a neighborhood CVS round 8:20 p.m. March 17, 2021, when an unidentified man ran as much as her within the household driveway in Elmont and threw acid in her face earlier than working off.

The girl, who was finding out medication at Hofstra College, was severely burned and stays disfigured regardless of a number of surgical procedures — the newest as just lately as two weeks in the past.

“First, I had reconstruction of my proper eyelid,” Nafiah Ikram mentioned. “In between surgical procedures, each two weeks, I had esophageal dilation. I used to be not in a position to eat as a result of my esophagus misplaced its flexibility, so one thing as small as a tablet will get caught in my throat.

“There can be many plastic surgical procedures,” she mentioned. “Should you ask me in 5 years, it’ll most likely be 25 surgical procedures.”

Like her mother and father, she faults police for not doing sufficient to catch her attacker and mentioned they even “legitimately accused me of mendacity and withholding info.

“I believe at first they didn’t take it severely,” Nafiah Ikram mentioned. “They went via my social media, my textual content messages, all of that and nonetheless couldn’t discover one lead.

“That goes to point out you both they weren’t making an attempt exhausting sufficient or this individual actually is an efficient hider,” she mentioned. “We don’t need this to occur to anybody else’s youngster. The truth that this individual continues to be on the market, even my household, mates, my neighborhood, my neighbors, they’re all scared. They lock their doorways.”

In an announcement Thursday, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder defended investigators’ efforts to interrupt the case.

“The Nassau County Police Division continues an intense and complete investigation into the heinous act that happened one yr in the past, when our sufferer, Nafiah Ikram, was assaulted with a hazardous substance,” the assertion mentioned.

“Quite a few interagency assets have been assigned and proceed to collaborate to deliver the individual accountable to justice,” Ryder mentioned. “Nassau County Crimestoppers and the FBI have each equally elevated their reward to a complete of $40,000 for suggestions that might result in an arrest of the individual or individuals accountable.

“Now we have continued to work with the Ikram household and urge anybody with info to name Crimestoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS,” he mentioned.