Enmore mother set on fire by son dies

Gaitree Dhanraj, the Enmore resident who along with her husband, was set on fire two Fridays ago by her son, succumbed to her injuries yesterday.

Dhanraj and her husband Ousman Mohammed were admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital’s Burns Care Unit, after their son Deonarine Mohammed, during an argument threw gasoline at his mother in their Enmore North, East Coast Demerara home and then threw a match in her direction.   The blaze was subsequently extinguished by the Guyana Fire Service, but not before the two-storey wooden and concrete house had been completely destroyed.

Since being admitted to the hospital, there was much concern that the woman would not survive due to the severity of her injuries.  She died yesterday morning, hospital sources told this newspaper yesterday.  Stabroek News was told that the son was yet to be apprehended.

On Monday, Ousman told this newspaper that on the night of the incident his son showed up at the house in a drunken state and asked for food. He said an argument erupted between them and his son became enraged when he told him that he needed to find a job. “He tek de gas and fling it by where she [Dhanraj] been and when he fling it on she some drop on de floor and some splash up on me,” he recalled. After throwing the gasoline, Deonarine struck a match and flung it in his mother’s direction. Flames immediately covered the woman and it was at this point that Deonarine escaped. A screaming Dhanraj reportedly dashed through the house and as a result several items were ignited and flames quickly spread throughout the house.

“Is meh son, man. Is he do this,” Mohammed had told Stabroek News last week when questioned about how he had been injured.