A man who poured a pail full of acid on a female employee of the tax collectorate at Constant Spring Road in Kingston was beaten to death by an angry mob, yesterday.

The attack occurred as members of the public were walking into the tax collectorate about 8:30 am yesterday. Onlookers said the woman had just disembarked from a bus and was walking towards the building when a man walked up behind her with a pail of black acid and doused her with it.

As a result of the attack, the collectorate was closed for the rest of the day.

“The whole of her clothes melt way and a pure flesh you see,” one man who claimed to be an eyewitness said. “Some of the acid catch the boy (attacker) and him run off and the people start chase him.”

The woman was taken to hospital where she is being treated for severe acid burns. Her name was not released, but police gave her age as 29 and that she is from Buff Bay in Portland.

The unidentified acid-thrower, who onlookers said tried to remove his pants while running, was chased by persons gathered nearby and beaten to death.

“The acid catch him on him legs and start bun him to. The boy run and a try take off the pants and the people them start put on a chase,” one man said.

The acid-thrower was chased from Constant Spring Road to Constant Spring Grove before he was cornered in Honey Hill and beaten to death by an angry mob. His body was removed by police.

Some persons at the scene blamed the police who they claim failed to respond to frequent calls that two men were seen lurking around the front of the building and speaking on cellular phones.

“Them call the police and tell them say two man out there acting suspiciously. No police don’t turn up. Even when them a run down the man they were calling 119. No answer,” a man said, “Them arrive on the scene when the woman burn up and the man dead”.

The tax collectorate is about 200 yards from the Constant Spring Police Station.

The acid attack caused some members of staff at the tax office to cry openly and though some were willing to speak to the media, they were ordered inside the building and instructed by supervisors not to speak with the media.

“Please people go inside and don’t speak with the press,” one woman said to staff members, who meekly obeyed and trudged inside the building.

Outside, a red pail containing remnants of the woman’s clothing and a black corrosive substance sat on the pavement. A few feet away, melted flesh lay intermingled with parts of a brassiere – a grim reminder of the heinous act which took place earlier.