A woman and her two children are today homeless after the father of the children reportedly burnt her `C’ Field, Sophia residence to the ground following a quarrel.
Twenty-eight-year-old Fiesta Fraser, who lived in the house since 1994, is today trying to find at least temporary lodging for herself and her two children while the man believed responsible for setting the blaze, remained on the run up to press time last evening.
Shenika Gomes, Fraser’s closest neighbour, told Stabroek News last evening that she was awakened yesterday afternoon between 17:00 and 17:30 by her children who told her Fraser and the man were “fighting” again. The children had been playing in the yard. Gomes said she peeked through one of her windows to investigate, but went back inside soon after.
However, shortly after going back inside, Gomes’s children rushed in from the yard screaming that the man was burning Fraser’s clothes. The woman said she peered through the window once again and noticed smoke coming from Fraser’s house.
An eyewitness said that the man piled the woman’s clothes onto their bed then lit them on fire. Due to where it originated, the fire spread quite quickly through the small wooden shack, and within minutes, Stabroek News was told, the entire structure was ablaze.
After setting the fire, the man ran away.
Another resident said that when the fire was spotted, several of Fraser’s neighbours quickly formed a bucket brigade, using water from the trench in front of the woman’s house, to combat the fire. When it seemed that the fire would spread to a nearby structure, the man said, they began dousing the structure with water as well.
Shortly after the brigade started operating, members of the Guyana Fire Service turned up and extinguished the blaze, residents say.
It is uncertain what sparked the events which prompted the man to commit the act, although one resident suggested that it may have been jealousy. The resident, who asked not to be named, explained that shortly before the fire, a male friend of Fraser passed her residence and waved and called out to her.
The resident claims that the alleged arsonist, who was not far away, saw what transpired and began arguing with Fraser. The argument reportedly escalated before ending with the man setting the house on fire.
This was just another of many arguments which the two had, neighbours said. According to Fraser’s mother, another argument, which occurred just a month ago, resulted in the man moving out of the very house he burned yesterday.
The woman said that after the argument a month ago, the man moved to a nearby location while Fraser and the couple’s children remained in the house they previously shared.
Since this time however, she said, he has been trying to convince her to move in with him at his new place, and would visit her frequently. Fraser’s mother lamented the fact that her daughter had recently done some amount of renovations to the house.
