Dear Editor,
I am writing this letter in response to the Stabroek News article dated July 21, 2010, captioned ‘Canal woman dies in suspicious fire.’
The article read: “The charred body of an elderly woman was pulled from the ruins of her Debuff, Canal Number Two, West Bank Demerara home after it was gutted by a mysterious fire early yesterday morning.”
The circumstances surrounding the mysterious fire, which the police have disregarded by summarily concluding that no foul play was involved, are as follow: My mother, Bibi Saqkhena, who was just 62 years old, was killed in a fire around 1 am on July 20, 2010. She was a feisty woman excited about the future and proud of her children and their achievements. There was an area of soot where a flame started near her bed.
She was found badly burnt, arms and legs missing, her body unrecognizable. She was found face down, a position that she did not sleep in, on a bed that she never sleeps on, near to a door which was four to five feet away and easily accessible. My mother suffered no physical or mental impairment that would have prevented her from trying to reach the door. She kept four fierce dogs in the yard to protect her.
Based on the family’s inquiries, the last persons to see her alive were a couple, male and female who were drinking in the little shop my mother kept to maintain herself in Guyana. This couple had visited the shop on several occasions, becoming friendly with my mother and gaining her trust. The man admitted after being questioned by the detectives in Georgetown to being in Canal Number Two up to around 6 pm the evening before the deadly fire. He admitted that he was living temporarily with his brother in a shack around my mother’s house and that he started to live there two weeks prior to the fire. An unknown caller informed the family that someone picked up a couple “fitting the description of this couple,” around 4 am in Georgetown and this couple checked into a hotel. While on the way to the hotel they made calls to Canal on a cell phone asking about “the fire.” The police took the man in for questioning but since this case was out of the jurisdiction of the Georgetown police the man was transferred to the Leonora Police Station and let go after 48 hours. Meanwhile, the woman was left to go free and started a bonfire in the shack where she was staying in Canal Number Two, not far from my mother’s home. What was the purpose behind her starting this bonfire?
A neighbour was also called in for questioning by the police after the man in jail in Leonora had told the police that they should question him. Apparently he had a quarrel with my mother about land and had threatened her. My mother had relayed her concerns about these threats to me. The neighbour was set free that evening and arrived very agitated in Canal No 2, where we were keeping a wake for my mother, to say “The scar-faced man said he will come to get all of you. I was in the cell with him. He said he will hurt all of you.” The “scar-faced man” was the male of the couple who last saw our mother alive.
There was a pair of black woman’s wedges found in the backyard. The fence was pushed down. A pile of clothes was found at the side of the house that did not belong to our mother. We took photos of this since the police did not take photos of the crime scene.
My mother was a fighter. If a fire started she would not be lying on a bed accepting death. She would have been fighting to her last breath. She would have made her way to the door.
To date there has been very little help from the police although we have pleaded with them to re-open the investigation and not to turn a blind eye to obvious evidence. All we were told by the police was, “The man we picked up is a known con artist.” There is no fire report. There is absolutely no documentation as to the origin of the fire. My mother was breathing, possibly unconscious, while someone was hurting her, burglarising her home and setting her house on fire. She had valuable jewellery and saved her money at home. She lived alone which was no secret. She was trusting and loving. She was a perfect target.
Despite there being no investigation as to the source of the fire and despite the evidence before them of foul play, the police summarily closed the case. They closed the case based on the report of a non-forensic pathologist, who opened my mother’s decaying chest cavity and concluded that death was due to “smoke in lungs.” As far as can be established, no tissue samples were taken and no microscopic samples were done.
Do I have to just sit back and say, “Well, that is Guyana for you? That is the system. Nothing can be done. The police were paid off.” We are all defenceless. You may be the next victim. Your sister or brother might be the next victim. My friend might be next. Can nothing be done?
In the hospital where I work in the USA, my colleagues and friends ask me, “Why did the police not do anything?” “How did the fire start?” They ask about the mysterious circumstances surrounding my mother’s death. I am ashamed to say, “That is the way it is in my country. It is a third world country, you know,” as an excuse for bureaucratic incompetence and failure. My country will always be a third world country as long as there is rampant corruption, as long as there is no accountability, no justice and no respect for the laws.
I grieve for my mother but I grieve tears of blood for my country.
Yours faithfully,
Shahabudeen Usman, MD
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Commissioner of Police Henry Greene for any comment he might wish to make.
