Sophia arson suspect arrested

- admitted to hospital with burn injuries

The alleged arsonist in the late night Sophia fire last Friday, which claimed the life of an elderly man and injured two people, has been arrested and is under police guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

The man is being treated for burn injures about his body, mainly his arms and chest. He was taken to the hospital for treatment after his mother turned him over to the police yesterday morning.

According to information received, the alleged arsonist had fled to his mother’s home in Linden where he confessed to setting the house on fire.

After listening to the story, his mother took him to a Linden police station, where he was arrested.

The jilted 48 year-old man is alleged to have set fire to a ‘C’ Field Sophia house, where his ex-partner and her lover were sleeping. Other persons, including small children, also lived in house, one of which was the woman’s stepfather, who succumbed to his injures at the city hospital.

The two-storey house was burnt to the ground minutes after neighbours said they saw the man with a bottle in his hand, lurking in the yard.

The fire claimed the life of 68-year-old Clifford Sampson of Lot 6036 ‘C’ Field, Sophia. His stepdaughter Towobola Abrams, 38, and her boyfriend Shawn White sustained severe injuries.

According to a source at the hospital, the two people, whose conditions were listed as critical, are now stable in the Burn Care Unit of the hospital. Abrams sustained burns to her entire right side, while White was burnt from his neck to his waist.