Survivor of Elmont acid attack hopes a boost to reward can catch culprit

A liquid diet and trips to the doctor for treatment of burns to her arms, eyes and face are as routine as they are unpleasant for an Elmont woman as she heals from a March acid attack by a still-unknown assailant.

Clutching a tissue, Nafiah Ikram, 21, said the nighttime attack, which a surveillance camera captured outside her Arlington Avenue home, has left her dealing with daily pain — both physical and emotional.

"I have, like a pessimistic mindset right now, where anyone around me could have done it and unfortunately, that’s like my [post-traumatic stress disorder]," she said Wednesday while resting on a couch at home.

The plight of the Hofstra University junior majoring in premed, gained widespread attention after the March 17 attack sparked demands for a hate crime investigation and help from a state task force as well as a $20,000 reward. Nearly three months after the attack, Nassau Legis. Carrié Solages (D-Valley Stream) wants to increase the reward to $50,000, calling the attack a "horrific crime."

In an interview Wednesday, Solages said he sent a letter May 24 to Nassau County Executive Laura Curran requesting the reward be increased.

"It would show to the community that this is very serious," Solages said, "and that if you saw something to say something."

Curran on Wednesday said she forwarded the letter to Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder.

Police have released scant details of their investigation other than it is ongoing.

Ikram, who turns 22 on June 11, said she has had eye surgery for a cornea infection related to the attack. Eating solid foods remains an issue because of facial wounds. Ikram said she only drinks liquids such as Ensure since the attack.

"It’s harder for me to swallow anything," she said. "I had gone to the [gastroenterologist] and they tried to do an endoscopy with the pediatric scope. It wouldn’t go down. They took some images and they saw I had scar tissue in my esophagus."

Ikram said that in March, at about 8:30 p.m., as she walked up the driveway of the home she shares with her mother and father, the assailant came up from behind and threw a liquid on her face and arms that at first felt like room temperature juice. The pain came soon afterward and she later learned the liquid was an unknown type of acid.

She hopes whoever caused her injuries is caught "because I feel like it would help me because I really can't understand this at all."

Ikram’s mother, Sherina Mohamed, said she’s taken off from work as a nurse practitioner to care for her only daughter.

"It’s one thing to be a patient and go through all this physical, mental, emotional pain, but to watch your child go through this and you’re trying to help the maximum," Mohamed said, "it’s really very painful for a parent to have to go through this."

Nafiah Ikram said she tries to "look at something positive that happens and I write it down." A possible positive, Ikram said, is her birthday wish: eating solid Mediterranean-Afghani food if she gets the go-ahead from her doctor.

"So fingers crossed," she said.