By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A GRAND Bahama woman who launched a devastating acid attack that left a suspected love rival blind and permanently disfigured has failed in her bid to win a lighter sentence after the Court of Appeal refused to reduce the seven-year maximum imposed by a magistrate who called the case one of the “worst of the worst.”

Stephanie Braynen was left in agony, with flesh dripping off her face, after Pandora McKenzie threw a metal cup of a corrosive substance into her face after her husband had taken Ms Braynen to their home to help convince his wife they were not having an affair.

Ms Braynen described the pain as feeling as if “her entire face was on fire,” with the liquid searing down her throat, nose, chest, arms, ears, and hair. Her sight was immediately impaired.

McKenzie’s husband Edward Deveaux testified that when he entered the room where what was described as the ‘cruel and horrific’ attack took place, the scene was almost unrecognisable.

Ms Braynen stood frozen “as a statue,” he said, with “her flesh dripping off of her.” He told the court that McKenzie was standing over the injured woman, “brandishing a cutlass” as if preparing to strike. He tackled her to disarm her.

The court heard that Deveaux had collected Ms Braynen in his bus and taken her to the property for what was supposed to be a clarifying conversation.

Instead, the court found, Ms Braynen walked into a trap.

Without warning, McKenzie flung the cup of a corrosive substance directly into Ms Braynen’s face.

She was rushed first to the Eight Mile Rock Clinic, then taken by ambulance to Rand Memorial Hospital. She was later flown to New Providence for specialist care at the Princess Margaret Hospital and subsequently to Bascom Palmer in Miami. Despite extensive treatment, she is now permanently blind and disfigured.

McKenzie was charged with Causing Dangerous Harm and stood trial in the Magistrate’s Court after the attack in November 2020.

After assessing the evidence, Magistrate Simone Brown convicted her and imposed the statutory maximum of seven years. During sentencing, the magistrate said the injuries were “cruel and horrific,” adding that McKenzie had “passed a sentence upon the victim which is worse than death.”

She noted that the victim “has to live everyday not being able to see,” can no longer work, and relies entirely on the assistance of others. She rejected McKenzie’s claims of self-defence, pointing to her attempt to wield a cutlass moments after throwing the acid. Calling the case “one of ‘worst of the worst’,” the magistrate said it “warrants the maximum penalty.”

McKenzie appealed, arguing that the sentence was excessive given her age, lack of prior convictions, and expression of remorse. Her counsel argued that the magistrate erred in calling the case “worst of the worst,” claiming the phrase is traditionally used in the context of death-penalty jurisprudence. He also contended that a probation report should have been sought before such a severe sentence was imposed.

The Court of Appeal rejected every argument.

Justices Turner, Smith, and Fraser said the magistrate properly weighed both aggravating and mitigating factors, acted within her statutory powers, and exercised her discretion reasonably. They stressed that while maximum sentences are rare, they are appropriate for “the most serious incidents,” and this case squarely fits that category.

The court also distinguished the matter from Dashernique Gibson, a recent three-year case involving a corrosive substance cited by McKenzie’s lawyer. In Gibson, the injuries, while serious, did not involve permanent blindness or full-body chemical burns. In contrast, the judges said, McKenzie’s attack caused catastrophic, lifelong harm, and the manner in which it was carried out placed it among the most severe cases possible before a magistrate.

The appellate panel highlighted key findings: that McKenzie lured Ms Braynen to her home under the guise of resolving a suspicion, waited with the corrosive substance concealed in a cup, threw it directly into her face, and then armed herself with a cutlass while the victim was defenceless.

The judges noted that the magistrate did take into account that this was McKenzie’s first offence and that she expressed remorse. Still, they concluded there was no error in principle and held that the seven-year sentence “would meet the circumstances of this case.”