A young woman and her two children are homeless after a suspicion fire gutted their one bedroom ‘D’ Field Sophia house early yesterday morning.
Shireen Alli, 19, who lost everything in the blaze, believes that her reputed husband of four years made good on his countless treats to “bun down de house”.
A senior police official told this newspaper that although the man was not seen committing the act, arson is suspected.
The distraught woman told this newspaper at her mother’s small home which is located in front of the gutted structure that she has nowhere else to go. She said that her four-year-old son (from another union) cannot attend school because all of his clothing and important documents were destroyed.
Pointing to her nine-month-old son as he crept across the bare wooden floor, Alli told Stabroek News that the toddler now has no clothes. She said that they had to wrap him in an oversized t shirt.
Explaining the events leading up to the fire, the teen said that on Sunday morning they had a heated argument over a cell phone that she had given her eldest son to play with. The woman said that the row escalated into a physical altercation. Later that day they had another argument during which Alli’s reputed husband told her to go to the police station if she wanted.
The woman told this newspaper that shortly after she made her way to the nearby Turkeyen Police Station where she made a report about her husband’s behaviour.
She said that when she returned home, they had another argument and she proceeded to her mother’s house with the children. She decided to spend the night there.
According to Alli some time around 5 am yesterday, her mother was awakened by crackling sounds and noticed that the small one bedroom house was engulfed in flames.
The fire tender arrived in about ten minutes but by then there was nothing that could have been done to save the structure.
“All they come fuh do is out de fire because within five minutes de house bun,” the distraught woman said.
The woman said that her reputed husband has not been seen since and she is clueless as to where he might be.
“Everything ah had gone. All meh clothes, my furniture look ah had two bed, grocery, everything gone,” the woman added.
Alli told Stabroek News that during the years that she spent with her reputed husband, she was often beaten. She showed this newspaper a scar which she said was inflicted by the man.
She recalled that she made numerous police reports about the man and one time he was arrested by ranks but released after being warned.
Yesterday, the woman appealed for assistance stressing that she has nowhere to go.
Anyone desirous of helping Alli can contact relatives on 219-3682.
