The woman, who police said, allegedly deliberately set fire to a West Berbice, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) building resulting in it burning, did so in retaliation after an argument with her husband during which he ordered her to pack up and leave.
Police referred to the woman as being mentally challenged.
Seven persons were rendered homeless as a result of the fire which destroyed three apartments.
The aftermath of the fire
According to the police, the two-storey wooden and concrete property was owned by Jean Harte and was occupied by her and her daughter-in-law, who is allegedly mentally ill.
Police said on Saturday at about 11:00h, the daughter-in-law informed Harte that she had lit a mattress in one of the bedrooms on the lower floor of the house.
In a panic, the woman rushed to the lower flat where she observed smoke and immediately started to disconnect the gas cylinders. After doing so, they both ran out of the house and within minutes the fire had engulfed the bedroom and other sections of the house.
The woman’s daughter said seven persons occupied the three apartments that were destroyed by the blaze.
Harte and her husband occupied the upper flat while her son, his wife and their 8-month-old baby occupied the lower flat. The fire also destroyed an adjoining apartment occupied by two of Harte’s sons.
Rosy Hero, who is the eldest of the siblings and no longer lives at the Kingsley address said that based on what was related to her was that there was a misunderstanding between her brother and his wife over a cellular phone conversation.
“He turn to her and told her to pack up her things and leave and go home. Which in she is living till in Essequibo but she don’t have any parents or any family. When he told her to pack up her things and go home, he was upset with her. She packed up her bag and he left the house and went out. She told us that after he left, she went back inside and took a piece of paper and lit it and took it to the bed and put it on the mattress. After the fire start to burn, she came out side and told my mother that the house is one fire,” the woman claimed.
The woman reportedly went into the apartment but had to flee as the bedroom was completely engulfed.
The youngest of Harte’s siblings was in the apartment he shared with another brother when he learned that the building was on fire.
“The first thing I did was to go upstairs and take out the two gas bottles and then come downstairs and reverse the car out of the yard,” Cleshawn Harte said.
According to the young man he used a hose with water from the tap to dose the blaze but his efforts were in vain and he soon had to abandon the idea.
Meanwhile, his sister related that by the time the fire service arrived, the fire had taken over the entire building and was also burning trees in the yard.
Hero said damages are estimated at $10M as all three apartments were fully furnished and nothing from the three apartments was saved. A motorbike was also destroyed in the fire.
The family is reaching out to the public for assistance nothing that while they would want to rebuild, they have immediate needs since the fire has destroyed everything they owned.
The family can be contacted by telephone number 601-2357 by persons who are desirous of helping them. (G4)
The post Fight between couple leads to house being set on fire – Police appeared first on Guyana Times.