-three homeless
Three occupants of a Sophia house are counting their losses after their home was reduced to ashes following a fire, allegedly set by a man who was thrown out of the property several weeks ago.
Stabroek News was told that the man who had on numerous occasions threatened to kill was still on the run up to press time and was calling relatives of those living in the house tying to ascertain the extent of the damage.
Despite the efforts of the fire service, the house located at Lot 296 Section C Turkeyen could not be saved. The entire structure was destroyed as well as the items inside, if not by the fire, by the water.
When Stabroek News arrived on the scene around 1 pm, more than two hours after the inferno, a fire was still evident in a section of the bottom flat. Parts of the concrete structure had begun to crumble and the windows were shattered.
Certificates and other documents belonging to the man’s daughter were on the grass at the side of the house. The passport was the only thing that was not touched by the fire. However it was soaked during the firefighters’ attempt to douse the flames.
Speaking to the media outside his ruined home, Ron Lamaison said that he was on his way to Bel Air from the East Bank where he was working when he noticed thick black smoke in the air and it appeared to be originating from somewhere in Sophia.
He said that subsequently a cousin called him on his cellular phone saying that it was rumoured that the house was on fire. Lamaison said that he was in the Cummings Lodge area and decided to go home and check to make sure everything was alright.
As he made him way into his street he was greeted with the scene of his house totally engulfed in flames. Lamaison stated that the fire engine was there but nothing could have been done to save the property.
The distraught man recalled that his mother, Victorine Ifill had thrown his stepfather out of the house several weeks ago following an argument. The woman has been the victim of verbal abuse for sometime now and decided to put an end to it several weeks ago. This had apparently angered the man and following his departure from the property he made several attempts to contact her.
He said that the man had always been threatening to do them harm but he had never threatened to burn down the house.
According to him someone saw when his stepfather leaned his bicycle on a post and entered the yard. He apparently kicked down the front door and started the fire with a gas bottle that he had placed in the bathroom.
Earlier that morning, the man had called the house and urged his daughter, who lived there, to hurry and remove her belongings.
However the young woman did not take him seriously and as such did not mention anything to anyone. At the time the man made the call, Lamaison was preparing for work while Ifill had already left for a nearby clinic to have her monthly check-up.
Yesterday Lamaison said that the man keeps calling one of his cousins wanting to know how bad the fire was and if the house was “burned flat to the ground”.
He stated that the Turkeyen Police Station has reports that were made about the man’s behaviour.
The man recalled that several weeks back he decided to go out and his stepfather used that opportunity to attack his mother. This resulted in her asking him to leave her home.
But according to him, his stepfather who is a contractor, wanted control over the house.
He said that even though the house is incomplete, it is worth about $6M. Another $2M in articles was lost to the blaze. His only possessions now are what he left home with. (Zoisa Fraser)
