Man Pleads Not Guilty to Blinding Woman With Acid

A Hacienda Heights man pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of throwing corrosive acid in the face of a Glendale woman last July, blinding and disfiguring her.

Emad Fawzi Kalta, 20, was arraigned in Glendale Municipal Court on charges of aggravated mayhem, mayhem resulting in great bodily injury and assault with a caustic chemical. He is being held without bail in Los Angeles County Jail.

If convicted, Kalta could be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, said Deputy Dist. Atty. David Dahle. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for May 31.

Kalta was arrested by Glendale police Thursday in Hacienda Heights. Authorities declined to say how long they have considered Kalta a suspect or why it took so long to make an arrest.

Dahle said he is not sure of the motive in the attack but said it may have been an act of vengeance triggered by a dispute between members of the victim’s family.

According to a police report, Kalta approached Shushan Eloyan, 23, from behind as she walked down a sidewalk in the 100 block of Adams Street in Glendale and asked her for the time. In front of other pedestrians on the sidewalk, he threw a jar of acid in her face as she turned toward him, the police report said. Her eyes remain closed.

In an interview Friday, Eloyan said she recognized her assailant as a friend of her stepbrother. However, she said she did not know his name. She said family relations have been strained since her mother and stepfather were divorced in 1988. A restraining order prohibiting the stepfather from contacting or visiting Eloyan or her mother was issued in Burbank Superior Court last May.

Dahle, who filed the charges Wednesday, said police were investigating whether others, including Eloyan’s family members, may have been involved in the attack.

“We suspect there’s a link,” Dahle said. “There’s got to be a reason for this kind of attack. It’s usually an act of vengeance.” Eloyan, a refugee from Soviet Armenia who was attending Glendale Community College at the time of the attack, has since undergone several skin-graft operations and will have eye surgery in June in the hope of regaining some sight, she said.