Family suspects foul play in Soesdyke house fire death

The family of the elderly Hardai ‘Kuntie’ Singh, who died after being trapped in her home during a fire on Wednesday night, believes that there was foul play in the woman’s death and wants a thorough investigation.

Newspaper vendor Singh, 70, of Soesdyke Centre Road, East Bank Demerara, was reportedly asleep in her home when a gas cylinder exploded and ignited a fire around 7:30pm.

Stabroek News was told on Wednesday evening that neighbours, after noticing the fire as it engulfed the home, tried in vain to break down the doors to rescue Singh. Screams were heard coming from the one-bedroom, wooden house, but they died away shortly after.

When Stabroek News contacted the woman’s granddaughter, Nirmala Singh, yesterday, she said although her grandmother’s body was thought to have been removed, charred limbs were found among the debris yesterday morning.

Hardai Singh

“Lyken’s [Funeral Home] came and pick up the body but when we went back this morning we see she two foot and one of her hands on the floor and dogs were there sniffing around it,” she stated.

Family members returned to the Timehri Police Station and had the funeral home return to uplift the body parts.

“Imagine they had to come back and pick up the remainder of my grandmother… even the police ain’t come back and do nothing since… they are supposed to ensure that nobody touches that site but people even going and picking up wares that ain’t get burn. You can’t depend on anyone under certain circumstances,” she stated.

Singh lives a short distance away at Timehri and when she received the news of the fire, rushed to the Soesdyke location.

“The neighbour call me and say ‘girl, hurry and come, your grandmother house on fire,’” she said during a brief telephone interview. The woman said that when she arrived, everything had been damaged already and she was told that the elderly woman could not escape the fire.

The woman relayed the information she was given, explaining that her grandmother was said to have been drinking with a neighbour before taking a nap. “She had a lil drink with a woman who is live right next door. She was the last person to see her alive… she said they had the lil drink and she went back across to her house and the next thing she hear is Kuntie house on fire,” Singh said.

She noted that villagers all came to the conclusion that her grandmother was drunk and, as a result, could not save herself. But Singh dismissed this idea.

“This thing seem impossible. … no matter how much she drink and you go there and knock, she will get up and open that door. They claim she fell asleep and then they said they heard her hollering but when they out the fire, they find her sitting right at the door… why she couldn’t open the door?” Singh questioned, while saying she would like some answers.

The woman recalled only last week when her grandmother called her in a fright and explained that she went home and found burglars in her home and they were suspected to be men from the area. “She call me early the morning and say come see wa happen to my house. Then I thought was a fire but when I go I see they break into the house and carry away all she lil, lil things,” she said.

On that morning, the elderly woman had left her home very early to collect newspapers before going out to her stand to sell them. When she returned home, she found the men in her home and they fled.

While she was very much saddened by her grandmother’s passing, especially after considering the circumstances surrounding the death, Singh was relieved that her nine-year-old daughter was not at the house when the incident occurred. “My daughter is stay with her because of her age. I say, if she want anything, if she want somebody pass a glass of water for her, my daughter can help her out,” she explained. However, the child recently fell ill and went to her mother’s home only a few days ago.

Stabroek News made efforts to contact the Fire Chief Marlon Gentle, yesterday for an update into the investigation of the matter but those attempts proved futile.