Odessa Thomas, the mother of the two children who died in the Joseph Pollydore Street house fire on Sunday, is under an investigation by the Child Care and Protection Agency (CC&PA) and could face charges.
CC&PA Director Ann Greene told Stabroek News that for the past year CC&PA officers have been working with Thomas because she had proven to be “an incredibly negligent parent,”
and she disclosed that two of the children in the house at the time of the fire had been removed from the woman’s custody.
Preliminary investigations have suggested that an unattended candle may have been the cause of the early morning fire, which trapped Adam Marshall, 11, and Shania Marshall, eight, in the Lot 71 Pollydore Drive home. Their older brother, who is 13, was able to escape the house with minor cuts and burns. Thomas, who also suffered burns, is an admitted patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital, where she is also being treated for high blood pressure.
Greene said that the loss of life was extremely tragic, while noting that yesterday was originally the assigned date for CC&PA officers to visit Thomas to check on her progress and provide a performance review. “We have been working with her for the past year. She has been in our programmes… we have even been looking into the Ministry of Housing to see to get her a plot of land somewhere,” she noted.
According to Greene, only eight-year-old Shania was to have been in her mother’s care as Thomas had proven to be unable to care for her children and five of them had previously been removed from her care. She noted that Shania was left in her mother’s care to assist the woman while she went through the CC&PA programmes.
Greene said that the 13-year-old and Adam may have run away from their temporary custody and returned to their mother’s home. She added that running away is an issue with children placed in temporary care. She said too that while Thomas was receiving “a lot of support,” reviews of her parenting have not been great.
Since the loss of life, Greene said the CC&PA will be looking to investigate if in fact Thomas was at home at the time of the fire and if she was not then charges would have to be made. “We have to determine if she was actually at home because the mother is saying she was, but we have to investigate this. The fire service will have to let us know,” Greene said.
When Stabroek News visited the site of the fire yesterday, CC&PA officers were speaking to Thomas’ neighbours, gathering evidence and testimony.
Multiple neighbours had told Stabroek News on Sunday that Thomas, a food vendor at the city slaughterhouse, was not at home at the time the blaze started but was returning home when she came upon the scene.
A neighbour said that the woman rushed to the burning house and attempted to push her hand through a window to break it and it was during this that she sustained burns on her left hand and arm.
One neighbour said that Thomas would regularly lock the three children in the home when she went out for the night. When members of the fire brigade arrived, they had to break down the front door as well as the two large grills on the front windows. The children were found in the middle room where it is suspected the fire may have started.
Greene also said that the loss of life was a tragic warning for parents. “This had to be a learning lesson for parents that you cannot leave your children unattended without adult supervision, proper adult supervision,” she noted.
Currently, the bodies of the two children are at Lyken Funeral Home. No family members or next of kin have come forward to claim the bodies or make funeral arrangements.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Fire Service yesterday continued to investigate the cause of the fire. Fire Chief Marlon Gentle yesterday confirmed that there was no legitimate electricity or running water to the house.
Gentle said that he was awaiting the full report of the investigation, which would be available soon.
The owner of the house was said to have gone to a relative’s home. He resided on the second-storey of the house.
Neighbours said that he may have been injured after jumping from the second-storey window.
