Blinded by acid – and now beaten up by yobs
Thugs strike near scene of crime that stunned Scotland
A MOTHER who lost her sight in a sickening acid attack 20 years ago has been beaten up in broad daylight by a gang of yobs only yards from where she was blinded. Former model Louise Duddy was left horribly disfigured after her jealous husband, Gordon Modiak, paid an accomplice £3,000 to hurl a pint of sulphuric acid in her face.
Now, the 48-year- old mother of two has fallen victim to a second terrifying ordeal in which a gang of youths taunted her about her disability before striking her to the ground with a blow to the back.
Detectives are appealing f or witnesses to the attack, which took place i n Hutchison Crossway, Edinburgh, around 2.30pm last Saturday barely 500 yards from Hutchison Place, where the acid attack took place in 1991.
A member of the public came to the stricken woman’s aid before Miss Duddy, who used to work as a hairdresser, contacted police the following day. Police have appealed for witnesses and officers have been making door-to-door inquiries in an attempt to identify the culprits.
Neighbours of Miss Duddy have been left disgusted at the latest cowardly assault.
One local, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘To overcome what she has been through over the years and for this to happen is just so cruel.
‘Everyone knows about Louise and what happened to her, so whoever did this must be sick. It’s bad enough when they pick on the elderly but for this to happen to a blind woman is really something else.’
A former neighbour, who also did not want to be named due to possible reprisals, said: ‘I heard something had happened but I didn’t realise it was to Louise – that’s a terrible shame.
‘It is horrible that people would think to do to that to someone who is so vulnerable like she is. There is
‘For this to happen is just so cruel’
nothing f unny a bout what happened to that poor woman. She must be upset and I hope she wasn’t too badly hurt.’
A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘This was a cowardly assault on a defenceless woman who was unable to identify her attacker.
‘As such, we would ask anyone who was in the area on Saturday, June 1, around 2.30pm, and remembers seeing anything suspicious to contact police i mmediately. ’ Miss Duddy’s former husband Modiak and a friend, Kelvin Greenhalghse, were sentenced to 20 years for the attack in which Miss Duddy’s two young children, Deane and Ryan, were also left with injuries.
Miss Duddy met her future husband when she was only 16 and became pregnant a year later.
She claims Modiak, who was eight years her senior, was violent and stopped her from seeing her family and friends.
She eventually left him but a court order insisting he stay away from his former partner proved ineffective when on February 13, 1991, Modiak watched as Greenhalghse carried out the attack.
It later emerged Modiak, who was released in 2004, paid Greenhalsghe £3,000 to carry out the attack.
Miss Duddy, who did not want to comment on the recent attack, has previously spoken of her daily battle to live an ordinary life with her debilitating injuries.
She bravely told how the horrific attack had left her severely scarred but, more importantly, had robbed her of the chance of seeing her two sons grow up.