Sunita Houssain, whose business was burnt when arsonists struck at the Jainarine Singh Building late Saturday night, said yesterday that despite her losses she is prepared to start over.
When Stabroek News visited the location yesterday, the smell of burnt wood was still in the air. Houssain, the owner of Sunita Document Centre, and several others were busily clearing the burnt rubble and were assessing the damage.
The fire damaged most of the interior of the small room, she occupied and the outside was visibly scorched.
The businesswoman said that while she plans to reopen her business, she has heard nothing from fire officials or police about the matter. She said though she had read in the press that the fire was a result of arson, she didn’t want to comment too much. “I don’t know what to make of it,” she said.
At the moment, Houssain has an estimated $100,000 cost for repairs to the interior of the room. She has also sent her photocopying machine and computer, which were affected by the heat, to be checked.
Among stocks damaged by the fire, she said, were packets of legal size paper. Besides work for lawyers, Houssain also operated a snackette at the location. She had been in business there since 2005.
Asked why she decided to remain there as opposed to finding another location, she said that it was a prime spot and everyone knew her to be there.
An unoccupied room next door to Houssain’s business was also destroyed during the fire. This newspaper was told that recently the room was cleaned out and the locks changed.
Meanwhile, a senior police official told Stabroek News that attorney Frank Fraser was in his office, located on the second floor of the three-storey building which also houses several lawyers’ offices and other businesses, when the fire started. He said that following the blaze, the attorney was taken to the Brickdam Police Station and he gave a statement and was sent away.
When Stabroek News visited the office of the elderly attorney, an employee said that he would not be available until today. Subsequent efforts by this newspaper to reach him were futile.
This newspaper was also unable to make contact with city businessman Omprakash ‘Buddy’ Shivraj, who brought the building last year and had sent removal notices to several tenants last July. When Stabroek News made contact with his office at Happy Acres, East Coast Demerara, an employee said that he had left for the day but could be reached this morning.
Fire Chief Marlon Gentle said on Sunday that officers received a call at around 10:35 pm on Saturday and the responding unit found the fire blazing from a stationery office, located on the bottom flat of the building.
According to Gentle, the lock to that office was found to have been tampered with and a strong smell of gasoline was evident when firemen approached the area. It was upon entering the building that they saw a gasoline bottle and the broken glass bottle. He said it is believed that the bottle was used as a lamp to start the fire.
Those in attendance at the nearby ‘People’s Parliament’ have since reported to the police that men were seen running away from the scene moments before smoke was observed and one of the men jumped into a vehicle that had circled the area before parking near the building.
