Thursday, March 10, 2011

H.S. student Zhanna Smsarian charged after she splashed classmate with acid to 'burn her eyes out'

Zhanna Smsarian, 16, leaves Brooklyn Criminal Court after her arraignment for allegedly throwing acid on her classmate during chemistry class.

A Brooklyn teen, irate over a classmate's play for a mutual male friend, tried to blind the girl by splashing her with acid during chemistry class, authorities said Thursday.

Sobbing suspect Zhanna Smsarian, 16, was freed Thursday on $7,500 bail for the attack one day earlier on Albina Eshimbaeva, 15, in the first-floor lab at Fort Hamilton High School.

The suspect told a police officer she "was trying to burn Eshimbaeva's eyes out," according to court documents.

The pair were friends before their falling out over a 22-year-old Staten Island man who had briefly dated Eshimbaeva.

The older man said they went out for a week before breaking up - and then the trouble began.

"[Eshimbaeva] was stalking me," said the Egyptian-American man. The spurned teen also mistook his friendship with Smsarian as romance, the man said, creating further tension.

The man told his woes to Smsarian, who assured him that she would handle things.

"I told her to do what she had to do, but I didn't expect her to throw acid," said the man, whose name is Mohammad.

Doctors who treated Eshimbaeva said the teen could have been blinded. Instead, she only suffered skin irritation because the diluted solution contained just 10% acid, sources said.

After Smsarian emptied the acidic bottle on her adversary just before the bell rang, a teacher quickly flushed Eshimbaeva with water.

She was rushed to the burn unit at Staten Island University Hospital and was later released.

"They made a fake fire drill, and got everybody out of the school," said student Mohammad Elashry, 15. "They took us out the sides. Then the cops came in, and took her out the front."

Smsarian, a volleyball player for the school team, told a police officer she "was trying to burn Eshimbaeva's eyes out," according to court documents.

The tall teen, an ROTC member still wearing her fatigues, was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court for attempted assault and a slew of other charges.

"She's never been in any problems before," her lawyer Igor Vaysberg told the judge. "She's an honor roll student with excellent grades."

Her parents, Vaysberg said, were "destroyed."

A Department of Education spokeswoman said the school has also taken disciplinary action against Smsarian.

oyaniv@nydailynews.com



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/03/10/2011-03-10_16yearold_zhanna_smsarian_charged_after_she_splashed_classmate_with_acid_to_burn.html#ixzz1GFaz42lE

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